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AMERICANIZATIO 




GRISCOM 





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Book 

Copyright^?. 



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AMERICANIZATION 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

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TORONTO 



AMERICANIZATION 



A SCHOOL READER AND SPEAKER 

By -» 
Ellwood Geiscom, Jr. 

Associate Professor of Public Speaking, 

the University of Texas 

Formerly 

Assistant Professor of Public Speaking, 

Williams College. 



5fa» f avk 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1920 

All Rights Reserved 



^ 



3*& 



Copyright, 1920, 
By THE MACMELLAN COMPANY 



Set up and electrotyped. Published December, 1920. 



«)C!,A604763 






PREFACE 

" Americanization — to give the term its most compre- 
hensive meaning — is the business of making good Ameri- 
can citizens, the business of acquainting every one who 
inhabits American soil with both physical and spiritual 
America, to the end that this acquaintance may result 
in a sturdy loyalty to American institutions and Ameri- 
can ideals, and in the habit of living the life of the good 
American citizen. To Americanize America it is neces- 
sary, truly to reach the native born and the immigrant, 
the adult and the child in school; and incidentally, the 
task of Americanizing the ! new comer will be rendered 
comparatively easy if we can but succeed first in Ameri- 
canizing ourselves. " 

In this " business of making good American citizens" 
we naturally think, first of all, of the citizens-in-the- 
making, the boys and girls in our schools; for Americani- 
zation, broadly considered, means education for citizen- 
ship. 

This book is intended for use in the intermediate, 
grammar, and lower high school grades as a reader and 
speaker. It contains selections from historic American 
documents and from the writings and speeches of emi- 
nent publicists, dealing with various phases of the Ameri- 
canization problem. The selections are grouped under 
the following captions: (1) Foundation Stones in our 
History and Institutions, (2) The Story and Meaning of 
Our Flag, (3) Great Names in American History, (4) 
Incentives to Patriotism, (5) Present-day Problems. 

Each selection, though a unit in thought, is limited in 



PREFACE 

length. This plan was adopted for a two-fold purpose: 
(1) to multiply the units of interest, and (2) to render 
the selections adaptable for memoriter delivery either 
in class exercises or in declamation contests. Whether 
the book is used as a reader or as a speaker, or both, the 
" questions and exercises" appended to many of the 
selections will serve to aid in the thought interpretation, 
to stimulate interest, and to suggest topics for class 
discussions. 

If this book serves to fix more definitely in the minds 
of the children in our schools the basic principles of 
American institutions and government, to bring to these 
citizens-of-to-morrow a keener appreciation of the 
nature, privileges, and duties of good citizenship, and to 
incite in them a spirit of loyalty and service — the editor's 
purpose will be accomplished. 

The University of Texas 

September, 1920. ELLWOOD GRISCOM,JR. 



CONTENTS 

PAET ONE 

FOUNDATION STONES IN OUR HISTORY AND 
INSTITUTIONS 

PAGE 

The Declaration or Independence 5 

Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of 

Taking Up Arms — Thomas Jefferson 9 

The Declaration of Independence — Carl Schurz. 12 

Imaginary Speech of John Adams— Daniel Webster 14 

Back to the Declaration — Abraham Lincoln 16 

Bill of Rights — Constitution of the United States 18 
Don't Dislocate the American Idea — William 

McAndrew "° 

The Great Charter — U. M. Rose 22 

The British Constitution — Joseph Addison 24 

Entangling Alliances— George Washington 2G 

The Government Established by the Constitu- 
tion — Elihu Root 30 

The Frame of National Government — James 

Bryce ^ 

The Oldest Free Assemblies — Arthur James Bal- 
four 34 

The Government of the People — George Bancroft 35 

American Liberty— Mary L. Brady 37 

The Foundation of the Republic — Henry W. 

Grady • 39 



PART TWO 
THE STOEY AND THE MEANING OF OUR FLAG 

PAGE 

HlSTORY OF THE AMERICAN FLAG 43 

The Star-Spangled Banner — Henry Watterson. . 44 

Loyalty Pledge — Adapted 49 

The Making of Our Country's Flag — Franklin 

K. Lane 49 

The National Flag — Henry Ward Beeclier 51 

America's Mission — Franklin K. Lane 53 

A Last Plea for Americanism — Theodore Roosevelt 56 

PART THREE 

GREAT NAMES IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Washington and Americanism — James Sullivan.. 61 
Thomas Jefferson, Democrat — W. C. P. Brecken- 

ridge 63 

John Marshall — Henry Cabot Lodge 67 

Alexander Hamilton — Joseph H. Choate 71 

Samuel Adams and the New England Town- 
Meeting — George William Curtis 72 

The Legacy of William Penn — Woodrow Wilson 77 

Character of Webster — Thomas F. Bayard 78 

Charles Sumner — Carl Schurz 82 

Abraham Lincoln — Ralph Waldo Emerson 86 

Lincoln, The Man of Destiny — Henry Watterson 90 

The Spirit of Abraham Lincoln — Woodrow Wilson 92 
Looking Through Lincoln's Eyes — Franklin K. 

Lane 93 

Robert E. Lee — John W. Daniel 94 

General Grant-— William McKinley 98 

"Stonewall" Jackson — Moses D. Hoge 102 



PAGE 

The Typical American — Henry W. Grady 106 

The Potency of Eoosevelt's Spikit — Adapted by 

E. D. Shurter 107 

Theodoee Eooseyelt as a Vital Force — Albert 

Bushnell Hart 109 

PAET FOUE 

INCENTIVES TO PATEIOTISM 

Civic Creeds — Adapted from the "Creed/' by Edwin 

0. Grover 117 

I Am An American — Adapted from "The Rotarian" 118 

Am I a Good Citizen? — Meredith Nicholson 120 

The Ideal Eepublic — William J. Bryan 121 

Why Does the Nation Pay for the Schools? — 

William McAndrew 123 

A Charter of Democracy — Theodore Roosevelt 125 

International Patriotism — Bliss Perry 127 

The Law of Service — Lyman Abbott 129 

America a World Power — Woodrow Wilson ;: 131 

American Citizenship — Daniel Webster 134" 

Democracy in Education — Philander P. Claxton.. 135 

Americans for America — Laurette Taylor 136 

Equality of Opportunity — Will H. Hays 139 

Equal Justice and Opportunity — Albert Shiels. . 141 
The Duty and the Value of Patriotism — Arch- 

bishop John Ireland 144 ^ 

Americanism — What Does It Mean? — Rabbi 

Emanuel Sternheim 145 

Good Citizenship — Henry Cabot Lodge 147 < 

Loyalty to Democratic Standards — Adapted from 

"The Christian Science Monitor" 149 

Liberty and Discipline — Lawrence Lowell 151 

United We Stand — Edwin E. Slosson 153 



PAGE 

The Ability to Eeason, a Necessary Quality 

for Citizenship — Arthur T. Hadley 156 

Americanism — Theodore Roosevelt 158 

A Man Without a Country — Adapted by E. D. 

Shurter 160 

Ancestral Ideals — Henry Van Dyke 162 

The American Spirit — James Cardinal Gibbons.. 163 

PAET FIVE 

PEESENT-DAY PEOBLEMS 

Faith in America — George William Curtis 169 

Public Speaking in the Country Districts — 

Albert Shaw 171 

Government by Public Opinion — Adapted by E. D. 

Shurter 172 

American Character — Brander Matthews 174 

Cooperation with the Man Lower Down — Frank 

Trumbull 175 

Work or Die — Hugh Wiley ' 177 

The American Mind — Henry Seidel Canby 180 

The Scholar in a Eepublic — Wendell Phillips... 182 
The Educated Man and Democratic Ideals — 

Charles E. Hughes 184 

The Pilgrim's Eeligion as a Guide for To-Day — 

Gustav A. Carstensen 186 

The Influence of the Immigrant on America — 

Walter Edward Weyl 188 

Can Democracy Be Organized? — Edwin A. Alder- 
man 190 

An Immigrant Who Became One of Our Greatest 

Builders — Adapted from "The Literary Digest" 191 
Labor and the Common Welfare — Samuel Gompers 193 

A New Heaven — Lewis B. Avery 195 

Citizens of To-Morrow — E. A. Hanley 197 



PAGE 

The Working of the American Democracy — 

Charles Eliot 198 

The Higher Patriotism — Jane Ad dams 200 

Mob Law — Abraham Lincoln 202 

The Power of the Minority in Effecting Ke- 

forms — John B. Gough 204 

The Tyranny of the Majority — Frank 0. Low den 205 

The Message to Garcia — Elbert Hubbard 209 

Free Speech — Theodore Tilt on 211 

The Conservation of Public Speech — Bruce 

Barton 213 

The True American — A Conscientious Man — 

Franklin Henry Giddings 215 

America, a World Power — Archbishop John Ireland 217 

Educated Men and Politics — Grover Cleveland. . . . 219 

Common Sense — Irving Bacheller 223 

Private Gods the Worst Enemy of Democracy — 

Irving Bacheller 225 

Clean Politics — Theodore Roosevelt 227 

Americanization, What Is It? — Don D. Lescohier. 229 
The Duty of Christian Citizenship — T. Deiritt 

Talmadge 232 

School Activities and Public Service — William 

McAndrew 234 

The Immigrants — Ourselves — Fred C. Butler. . . . 236 
The Americanization Problem — Frederic Sieden- 

burg 239 

International Unity — Philander C. Knox 241 

The Press and Modern Progress — John Hay.... 243 
The Higher Education of Women — George W. 

Curtis 247 

A Pan-American Policy — Elihu Boot 247 

The Americanism of the Cape Cod Fishermen — 

Joseph C. Lincoln 251 

The Conditions of a Successful Life — Theodore 

Roosevelt 253 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

The Signing of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Jefferson's Draft of Part of the Declaration 

of Independence 7 

George Washington 27 

The Salute to the Flag 47 ^ 

Thomas Jefferson 65 *" 

John Marshall 69 

Alexander Hamilton 73 u 

William Penn 79 

\ 

Daniel Webster 83 

Abraham Lincoln 87 

Eobert E. Lee , 95 

Ulysses S. Grant 99 ^ 

Stonewall Jackson 103^ 

Theodore Eoosevelt Ill 1 

t 

Independence Hall 207 

Grover Cleveland 22flr 

John Hay 245^ 



AMERICANIZATION 



PART ONE 

FOUNDATION STONES IN OUR 
HISTORY AND INSTITUTIONS 



AMERICANIZATION 



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

On June 7, 1776, more than a year after the battles of 
Lexington and Concord, Richard Henry Lee introduced 
in the Continental Congress a resolution which stated 
that "The united colonies are, and of right ought to ba, 
free and independent states." A committee was 
appointed on June 10th to draw up a formal declaration 
of independence. The actual composition of this docu- 
ment was the work of Thomas Jefferson. John Adams 
writing to his wife said, "Yesterday, the greatest ques- 
tion was decided which ever was debated in America, 
and a greater, perhaps, never was debated among men. 
The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable 
epoch in the history of America." The preamble to 
the Declaration, slightly amended and adopted July 
4, 1776, in the form we have to-day, runs as follows: 

When in the course of human events, it becomes 
necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands 
which have connected them with another, and to assume 
among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal 
station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God 
entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of man- 
kind requires that they should declare the causes which 
impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men 
are created equal, that they are endowed by their 
Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among 

5 



6 AMBEICANIZATION 

these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. 
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted 
among men, deriving their just powers from the consent 
of the governed. That whenever any form of govern- 
ment becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right 
of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute 
new government, laying its foundation on such principles 
and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall 
seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. 
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long 
established should not be changed for light and transient 
causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that 
mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are 
sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the 
forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long 
train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the 
same object, evinces a design to reduce them under 
absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to 
throw off such government, and to provide new guards 
for their future security. Such has been the patient 
sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the neces- 
sity which constrains them to alter their former systems 
of government. The history of the present King of 
Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usur- 
pations, all having in direct object the establishment of 
an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, 
let facts be submitted to a candid world. 

Then, after giving a list of the wrongs suffered by the 
Colonies at the hands of the British government, the 
Declaration concludes as follows: 

We, therefore, the representatives of the United 
States of America, in General Congress assembled, 
appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the 
rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by 



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THOMAS JEFFEKSON 9 

authority of the good people of these Colonies, solemnly 
publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and 
of right ought to be free and independent States; that 
they are absolved from all allegiance to the British 
Crown, and that all political connection between them 
and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally 
dissolved; and that as free and independent States, they 
have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract 
alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts 
and things which independent States may of right do. 
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm 
reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we 
mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and 
our sacred honor. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Did the American leaders have any thought of separation 
from Great Britain at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War? 
2. What was the attitude of the British people toward the 
Colonists? 3. What was the attitude of the British govern- 
ment? 

DECLARATION OF THE CAUSES AND 
NECESSITY OF TAKING UP ARMS 

Thomas Jeffeeson 

June 23, 1775, a committee was appointed by the 
president of the Continental Congress "to draw up a 
declaration, to be published by General Washington 
upon his arrival at the camp before Boston." The 
report was brought in the next day, and, after debate, 
was recommitted, and Dickinson and Jefferson added 
to the committee. A draft prepared by Jefferson being 
thought by Dickinson to be too outspoken, the latter 
prepared a new one, retaining, however, the closing 



10 AMEEICAXIZATIOX 

paragraphs as drawn by Jefferson. In this form the 
declaration was reported June twenty-seventh, and agreed 
to July sixth. The closing paragraphs which Jefferson 
composed are as follows: 

We are reduced to the alternative of choosing an 
unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated 
ministers, or resistance by force. The latter is our 
choice. We have counted the cost of this contest, and 
find nothing so dreadful as voluntary slavery. Honor, 
justice, and humanity forbid us tamely to surrender that 
freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, 
and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive 
from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of 
resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness 
which inevitably awaits them, if we basely entail heredi- 
tary bondage upon them. 

Our cause is just. Our union is perfect. Our internal 
resources are great, and, if necessary, foreign assistance 
is undoubtedly attainable. We gratefully acknowledge, 
as signal instances of the Divine favor toward us, that 
His Providence would not permit us to be called into 
this severe controversy, until we were grown up to our 
present strength, had been previously exercised in war- 
like operation, and possessed of the means of defending 
ourselves. With hearts fortified with these animating 
reflections, we most solemnly before God and the world 
declare that exerting the utmost energy of those powers, 
which our beneficent Creator hath bestowed upon us, 
the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to 
assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabat- 
ing firmness and perseverance, employ for the preserva- 
tion of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die 
freemen than to live slaves. 

Lest this declaration should disquiet the minds of our 



THOMAS JEFFERSON 11 

friends and fellow-subjects in any part of the empire, 
we assure them that we mean not to dissolve that union 
which has so long and so happily subsisted between us, 
and which we sincerely wish to see restored. Necessity 
has not yet driven us into that desperate measure, nor 
induced us to excite any other nation to war against 
them. We have not raised armies with ambitious 
designs of separating from Great Britain, and establish- 
ing independent states. We fight not for glory or for 
conquest. We exhibit to mankind the remarkable 
spectacle of a people attacked by unprovoked enemies, 
without any imputation or suspicion of offense. They 
boast of their privileges and civilization, and yet proffer 
no milder conditions than servitude or death. 

In our own native land, in defence of the freedom 
that is our birthright, and which we ever enjoyed till 
the late violation of it — for the protection of our prop- 
erty, acquired solely by the honest industry of our fore- 
fathers and ourselves, against violence actually offered, 
we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when 
hostilities shall cease on the part of our aggressors, and 
their all danger of being renewed shall be removed, 
and not before. 

With an humble confidence in the mercies of the 
supreme and impartial Judge and Ruler of the Universe, 
we most devoutly implore His divine goodness to pro- 
tect us happily through this great conflict, to dispose our 
adversaries to reconciliation on reasonable terms, and 
thereby to relieve the empire from the calamities of civil 
war. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What part of this ovation suggests the famous oration of 
Patrick Henry? 2. In what passages does Jefferson show his 



12 AMEKICANIZATION 

firm trust in God? 3. Point out a sentence of which the mean- 
ing is not complete until the last word. 4. What is the value 
of the periodic sentence? 

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

Carl Schurz 

Let your imagination carry you back to the year 
1776. You stand in the hall of the old Colonial Court 
House of Philadelphia. Through the open door you 
see the Continental Congress assembled; the moment 
for a great decision is drawing near. 

The first little impulses to the general upheaval of 
the popular spirit, the Tea Tax, the Stamp Act, drop 
into insignificance; they are almost forgotten; the 
revolutionary spirit has risen far above them. It 
puts the claim to independence upon the broad basis of 
eternal rights, as self-evident as the sun, as broad as the 
world, as common as the air of heaven. 

The struggle of the colonies against the usurping 
government of Great Britain has risen to the proud 
dimensions of a struggle of man for liberty and equality. 
Not only the supremacy of old England is to be shaken 
off, but a new organization of society is to be built up, 
on the basis of liberty and equality. That is the Declara- 
tion of Independence ! That is the American Revolution ! 

It is a common thing that men of a coarse cast of 
mind so lose themselves in the mean pursuit of selfish 
ends as to become insensible to the grand and sublime. 
Measuring every character, and every event in history, 
by the low standard of their own individualities, incap- 
able of grasping broad and generous ideas, they will 
belittle every great thing they cannot deny, and drag 
down every struggle of principle to the sordid arena of 
aspiring selfishness. 



CAEL SCHUBZ 13 

Eighteen hundred years ago there were men who saw 
in incipient Christianity nothing but a mere wrangle 
between Jewish theologians, by a carpenter's boy, and 
carried on by a few crazy fishermen. Three hundred 
years ago there were men who saw in the great reforma- 
tory movement of the sixteenth century, not the emanci- 
pation of the individual conscience, but a mere fuss 
raised by a German monk who wanted to get married. 
Two hundred years ago there were men who saw in 
Hampden's refusal to pay ship money, not a bold 
vindication of constitutional liberty, but the crazy antics 
of a man who was mean enough to quarrel about a few 
shillings. 

And now, there are men who see in the Declaration of 
Independence and the American Revolution, not the 
reorganization of human society upon a basis of liberty 
and equality, but a dodge of some English colonists who 
were unwilling to pay their taxes. 

It is in vain for demagogism to raise its short arms 
against the truth of history. The Declaration of Inde- 
pendence stands there. No candid man ever read it 
without seeing and feeling that every word of it was 
dedicated by deep and earnest thought, and that every 
sentence of it bears the stamp of philosophic generality. 

It is the summing up of the results of the philosophical 
development of the age; the practical embodiment of 
the progressive ideas, which, far from being confined to 
the narrow limits of the English colonies, pervaded the 
very atmosphere of all civilized countries. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Who was Carl Schurz? 2. What is meant by "It is 
vain for demagogism to raise its short arms against the truth of 
history"? 



14 AMERICANIZATION 

IMAGINARY SPEECH OF JOHN ADAMS 

Daniel Webster 

In his eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, Daniel Webster 
gave the following imaginary speech of John Adams 
in urging the adoption of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence : 

Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my 
hand and my heart to this vote. It is true, indeed, that 
in the beginning we aimed not at independence, but 
there's a divinity which shapes our ends. The injustice 
of England has driven us to arms; and, blinded to her 
own interest for our good, she has obstinately persisted, 
till independence is now within our grasp. We have but 
to reach forth to it, and it is ours. Why, then, should 
we defer the declaration? 

Is any man so weak as now to hope for a reconciliation 
with England, which shall leave either safety to the 
country and its liberties, or safety to his own life and his 
own honor? Cut off from all hope of royal clemency 
what are you, what can you be, while the power of Eng- 
land remains, but outlaws? If we postpone indepen- 
dence, do we mean to carry on or to give up the war? 
Do we mean to submit to the measures of Parliament, 
Boston Port Bill and all? Do we mean to submit, and 
consent that we ourselves shall be ground to powder, 
and our country and its rights trodden down in the dust? 

If we fail, it can be no worse for us. But we shall not 
fail. The cause will raise up armies; the cause will create 
navies. The people, the people, if we are true to them, 
will carry us, and will carry themselves, gloriously 
through this struggle. I care not how fickle other people 
have been found. I know the people of these colonies, 



DANIEL WEBSTER 15 

and I know that resistance to British aggression is deep 
and settled in their hearts, and cannot be eradicated. 
Every colony, indeed, has expressed its willingness to 
follow, if we but take the lead. 

Sir, the declaration will inspire the people with 
increased courage. Instead of a long and bloody war 
for the restoration of privileges, for redress of grievances, 
for chartered immunities held under a British king, set 
before them the glorious object of entire independence, 
and it will breathe into them anew the breath of life. 
Read this declaration at the head of the army; every 
sword will be drawn from its scabbard, and the solemn 
vow uttered, to maintain it, or to perish on the bed of 
honor. Publish it from the pulpit; religion will approve 
it, and the love of religious liberty will cling around 
public halls; proclaim it there; let them hear it who heard 
the first roar of the enemy's cannon; let them see it who 
saw their brothers and their sons fall on Concord, and 
the very walls will cry out in its support. 

Sir, before God, I believe the hour is come. My judg- 
ment approves this measure, and my whole heart is in it. 
All that I have, all that I am, and all that I hope in this 
life, I am now ready here to stake upon it; and I leave 
off as I began, that, live or die, survive or perish, I am 
for this declaration. It is my living sentiment, and, by 
the blessing of God, it shall be my dying sentiment — 
independence now, and INDEPENDENCE FOR- 
EVER! 

Questions and Exekcises 

1. Under what circumstances was this speech supposedly 
delivered? 2. What is the present policy of Great Britain 
toward her colonies? 



16 AMERICANIZATION 

BACK TO THE DECLARATION 
Abraham Lincoln 

In his campaign for the Senate, against Stephen A. 
Douglas in 1858, Abraham Lincoln said: 

The Declaration of Independence was formed by the 
representatives of American liberty from thirteen states 
of the confederacy. These communities, by their repre- 
sentatives in old Independence Hall, said to the whole 
world of men: "We hold these truths to be self-evident 
that all men are created equal; that they are endowed 
by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that 
among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi- 
ness." This was their majestic interpretation of the 
economy of the Universe. This was their lofty, and 
wise, and noble understanding of the justice of the 
Creator to His creatures. Yes, gentlemen, to all His 
creatures, to the whole great family of man. In their 
enlightened belief nothing stamped with the divine 
image and likeness was sent into the world to be trodden 
on and degraded and imbruted by its fellows. They 
grasped not only the whole race of man then living, but 
they reached forward and seized upon the farthest 
posterity. They erected a beacon to guide their children, 
and their children's children, and the countless myriads 
who should inhabit the earth in other ages. Wise states- 
men as they were, they knew the tendency of prosperity 
to breed tyrants, and so they established these great 
self-evident truths, that when in the distant future some 
man, some faction, some interest, should set up the 
doctrine that none but rich men were entitled to life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, their posterity 
might look up again to the Declaration of Independence 
and take courage to renew the battle which their fathers 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 17 

began, so that truth and justice and mercy and all the 
humane and Christian virtues might not be extinguished 
from the land, so that no man would hereafter dare to 
limit and circumscribe the great principles on which the 
temple of liberty was being built. 

Now, if you have been taught doctrines conflicting 
with the great landmarks of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence; if you have listened to suggestions which would 
take away from its grandeur and mutilate the fair 
symmetry of its proportions; if you have been inclined 
to believe that all men are not created equal in those 
inalienable rights enumerated by our chart of liberty, 
let me entreat you to come back. Return to the foun- 
tain whose waters spring close by the blood of the revolu- 
tion. Think nothing of me — take no thought for the 
political fate of any man whomsoever — but come back 
to the truths that are in the Declaration of Independence. 
You may do anything with me you choose, if you will 
but heed these sacred principles. You may not only 
defeat me for the Senate, but you may take me and put 
me to death. While pretending no indifference to 
earthly honors, I do claim to be actuated in this contest 
by something higher than any anxiety for office. I 
charge you to drop every paltry and insignificant 
thought for any man's success. It is nothing; I am 
nothing; Judge Douglas is nothing. But do not destroy 
the immortal emblem of Humanity — the Declaration of 
American Independence. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What does the Declaration of Independence mean when 
it says that "all men are created equal"? 2. Who was Judge 
Douglas? In the opening sentence what is this "confederacy" 
that Lincoln mentions? 



18 AMEKICANIZATION 

BILL OF RIGHTS 

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 

The English common law, upon which English and 
American liberties are based, was slowly evolved through 
centuries of growth. Its maxims embody the most 
sacred beliefs of our race. It is that "law of the land" 
to which the Magna Charta refers, and its essential 
principles are those of the Petition of Right of Charles I, 
and the Bill of Rights and Act of Settlement of the 
Revolution of 1688. The Constitution of the United 
States, framed in Philadelphia, in 1787, breathes forth 
the ancient Anglo-Saxon love of liberty regulated by 
precedent and law, their love of order and discipline, 
their hatred of tyranny, their belief in the inalienable 
rights of man, and their instinct, as old as the race itself, 
for local and representative government. As long as 
Americans observe the spirit of the American Consti- 
tution, especially the first ten Amendments thereto, 
commonly known as The Bill of Rights, our present 
civilization is safe. Our "Bill of Rights" is embodied 
in the following ten articles of the Constitution: 

I. Congress shall make no law respecting an establish- 
ment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; 
or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the 
right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to peti- 
tion the Government for a redress of grievances. 

II. A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the 
security of a free State, the right of the people to keep 
and bear Arms shall not be infringed. 

III. No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered 
in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in 
time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. 



"BILL OF EIGHTS" 19 

IV. The right of the people to be secure in their per- 
sons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable 
searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no 
warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported 
by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the 
place to be searched, and the persons or things to be 
seized. 

V. No person shall be held to answer for a capital, 
or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or 
indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the 
land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual 
service in time of war or in public danger; nor shall any 
person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in 
jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any 
criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be 
deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process 
of law; nor shall private property be taken for public 
use, without just compensation. 

VI. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall 
enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impar- 
tial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall 
have been committed, which district shall have been 
previously ascertained by law, and to be informed, of the 
nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted 
with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory 
process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have 
the assistance of counsel for his defence. 

VII. In suits at common law, where the value in 
controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial 
by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury 
shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the 
United States, than according to the rules of the common 
law. 

VIII. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor exces- 



20 AMEEICANIZATION 

sive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments 
inflicted. 

IX. The enumeration in the Constitution, of cer- 
tain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage 
others retained by the people. 

X. The powers not delegated to the United States by 
the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are 
reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Is it ever necessary to suspend the Bill of Rights? 2. 
What is the danger resulting therefrom? Cite an example 
from recent history, particularly with reference to Articles I 
and IV. 

DON'T DISLOCATE THE AMERICAN IDEA* 
William McAndrew 

Too commonly our school gives us our opinions ready- 
made. We put too much faith in what we see in print. 
If public opinion, which is your opinion and mine, is to 
be at its best it must be what we reach, not by absorbing 
the ideas of the man who talks the loudest, but by digest- 
ing what we hear and read. But we are not to disregard 
the experiences of the great men who gave years of 
thought and effort to the forming of our national ideals. 

They chose a few great principles on which they built 
our nation. They wrote them into the two great basic 
documents of our civic life: the Declaration and the 
Constitution. They proclaimed, first, the principle of 
equality. 

Equality means fraternity, brotherhood, fair dealing, 
exclusion of no one from public benefits because of race 
or poverty or lowly birth. It means rejection of inherited 
By courtesy of the author. 



WILLIAM McANDEBW 21 

titles of nobility. It means avoidance of distinctions 
tending to put one man above another. Equality is an 
essential of the American Idea. 

Another phase of the Idea is the inalienable right to life. 
In old-world times a monarch owned his subjects. "Off 
with his head" was warrant enough to put a king's 
enemy out of the way. The right to life has been invaded 
by others than kings. If the greed of profiteers and the 
ignorance of parents place undeveloped children in 
factories and mines the American Idea of the right of 
all to life is gone. Against this greed the public schools 
stand as the best proposal of the national purpose to 
give to all the people a chance to live a rounded, intel- 
ligent, complete, American life. 

The next conception of the national ideal is liberty. 
It has been from the first a watchword on our lips. We 
could persuade ourselves into as much stupidity about 
the meaning of liberty as we could about the other thing : 
equality. But if we use our common sense and knowl- 
edge of history we can reach a workable idea of liberty. 
Washington led the fighting for it but he had no doubt 
of its meaning when he said "we must distinguish 
between licentiousness and liberty, we must recognize 
the difference between oppression and necessary author- 
ity." The Fathers of the Republic proclaimed liberty 
of speech, liberty of thought, freedom from attending a 
state church, liberty to change the government by fair 
and orderly means: elections. They took no single idea 
and pushed it to an impossible extreme. They w^ere 
practical men, the best minds the country afforded. 
They thought of liberty of the single man in connection 
with the benefit of all men. They always coupled liberty 
with another idea, the thought of union. Liberty may 
seem to be my personal benefit. If that is all it means it 



22 AMERICANIZATION 

is a cheap and selfish notion. But as the Declaration 
told the world of our freedom from the rule of kings and 
nobles, the Constitution advertised our purpose to unite 
for a common, not a personal, welfare. So are these 
principles blended, liberty and union, now and forever 
one and inseparable. To assail our union, our govern- 
ment, our brotherhood, in the interest of personal 
liberty, license, unbounded freedom, is to break our 
national ideal all to pieces and to rush backward toward 
the barbarism that existed before man set aside his 
selfishness to form cooperative government, without 
which we should still be roaming in the woods and fight- 
ing daily for enough to eat. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Review carefully the third paragraph, and point out 
certain things that the American doctrine of equality does not 
mean. 2. With reference to the American doctrine of liberty, 
give examples both of undue governmental repression and of 
excessive individual license. 

THE GREAT CHARTER* 
U. M. Rose 

No one can sum up the debt that we owe to the Magna 
Charta, the one great product of the Middle Ages. We 
look back with feelings of aversion and pity to that 
dark and troubled period; to its insane crusades, to its 
fanatical intolerance, to its pedantic and barren litera- 
ture, to its scholastic disputes, to its cruelty, rapine, 
and bloodshed. But the genius that presides over 
human destiny never sleeps; and it was precisely in that 
most sterile and unpromising age that the groundwork 

*Extract from a paper on "The Rise of Constitutional Law," 
read before the Pennsylvania State Bar Association, June 25, 1901. 



IT. M. EOSE 23 

was laid for all that is valuable in modern civilization. 
As an unborn forest sleeps unconsciously in an acorn 
cup, all the creations and all the potentialities of that 
civilization lay enfolded in the guaranty of personal 
liberty and of the supremacy of the law that was secured 
at Runnymede. The various bills and petitions of 
right, and the Habeas Corpus Act, while they have given 
new sanctions to liberty, are but echoes of the Great 
Charter; and our Declaration of Independence is but 
the Magna Charta writ large, and expanded to meet 
the wants of a new generation of freemen, fighting the 
battle of life beneath other skies. 

" Worth all the classics !" Yes, the classics that have 
survived and the classics that have perished. Dear as 
might be to us the lost books of Livy, whose pictured 
page is torn just where its highest interest begins, or 
even some song of Homer, which, now lost in space, 
shall charm the ear and bewitch the human heart no 
more, we could not exchange for them a single word of 
those uncouth but grand old sentences, which, having 
taken the wings of the morning, have incorporated them- 
selves with almost every system of laws in Christendom, 
and which still ring out in our American constitution 
with a sound like that of the trampling of armed men, 
marching confidently up to battle; words which for 
ages have stayed the hand of tyranny, and which have 
extended their protection over the infant sleeping in its 
cradle, over the lonely, the desolate, the sorrowful, and 
the oppressed. Uttered by unwilling lips, and believed 
by the wretch from whom it was extorted that it had 
scarcely an hour to live, the Magna Charta marks an 
epoch in the annals of mankind. It began a revolution 
that has never gone backward for a single moment; 
and was the precursor of that civilization the dawn of 



24 AMERICANIZATION" 

which our eyes have looked upon with joy and pride, 
and whose full meridian splendor can be foreseen by God 
alone. 



Questions and Exercises 

1. The American Bill of Rights is adapted from the Magna 
Charta. Can you enumerate these rights as stated in the first 
ten amendments to our constitution? 2. What king was 
forced by his barons to grant them the charter known as the 
Magna Charter?* 

THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 

Joseph Addison 

Our American Constitution has derived more from the 
English constitution and charters than from any other 
one source. We are heirs to all that is best in English 
life and letters. There is a brotherhood of common 
beliefs that binds the two nations as no treaties or agree- 
ments ever could. It is with a feeling of profound 
gratitude and pride, therefore, that we acknowledge our 
kinship to the great minds of England and the debt we 
owe them. 

Regarding the English form of government, it is 
interesting to note that about 1711, Joseph Addison 
wrote as follows: 

I look upon it as a peculiar happiness that were I to 
choose of what religion I would be, and under what 
government I would live, I would most certainly give 
the preference to that form of religion and government 
which is established in my own country. In this point I 
think I am determined by reason and conviction; but 
if I shall be told that I am acted by prejudice, I am sure 
it is an honest prejudice; it is a prejudice that arises 



JOSEPH ADDISON 25 

from the love of my country, and therefore such an one 
as I will always indulge. 

That form of government appears to me the most 
reasonable, which is most conformable to the equality 
we find in human nature, provided it be consistent with 
public peace and tranquility. This is what may properly 
be called liberty, which exempts one man from subjec- 
tion to another so far as the order and economy of 
government will permit. 

Liberty should reach every individual of a people, as 
they all share one common nature; if it only spreads 
among particular branches, there had better be none at 
all, since such liberty only aggravates the misfortune of 
those who are deprived of it, by setting before them a 
disagreeable subject of comparison. 

This liberty is best preserved, where the legislative 
power is lodged in several persons, especially if those 
persons are of different ranks and interests; for where 
they are of the same rank, and consequently have an 
interest to manage peculiar to that rank, it differs but 
little from a despotical government in a single person. 

It is odd to consider the connection between despotic 
government and barbarity, and how the making of one 
person more than man, makes the rest less. Riches and 
plenty are the natural fruits of liberty, and where these 
abound, learning and all the liberal arts will immediately 
lift up their heads and flourish. As a man must have no 
slavish fears and apprehensions hanging upon his mind, 
who will indulge the flights of fancy or speculation, and 
push his researches into all the abstruse corners for truth, 
so it is necessary for him to have about him a compe- 
tency of all the conveniences of life. 

Besides poverty and want, there are other reasons 
that debase the minds of men who live under slavery, 



26 AMEKICANIZATION 

though I look upon it as the principal. This natural 
tendency of despotic power to ignorance and barbarity, 
though not insisted upon by others, is, I think, an unan- 
swerable argument against that form of government, as 
it shows how repugnant it is to the good of mankind and 
the perfection of human nature, which ought to be the 
ends of all civil institutions. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. What change was effected in the English government by 
the revolution of 1688? 2. Find points of similarity between 
the English and American governments. 

ENTANGLING ALLIANCES* 
George Washington 

Washington refused to be a candidate for a third term 
of the presidency; and, in May, 1796, he sent to Hamilton 
a rough draft of his farewell address, asking for his 
criticism. After much revision by both, the document 
was published September 19th, and was read to the 
House of Representatives. The advice contained in 
it has ever since exercised a profound influence on the 
policy of the nation. Washington says in part: 

The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign 
nations is in extending our commercial relations, to 
have with them as little political connection as possible. 
So far as we have already formed engagements, let them 
be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. 

Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us 
have none, or a very remote relation. Hence she must 
be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which 
are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, 
it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial 

* Adapted from the Farewell Address. 




GEORGE WASHINGTON 



GEOKGE WASHINGTON 29 

ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics or the 
ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships, 
or enmities. 

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables 
us to pursue -a different course. If we remain one 
people under an efficient government, the period is not 
far off when we may defy material injury from external 
annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will 
cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to 
be scrupulously respected. When belligerent nations, 
under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, 
will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation when 
we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by 
justice, shall counsel. 

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? 
Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, 
by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of 
Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of 
European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or 
caprice? 

'Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alii 
ances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I 
mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be 
understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing 
engagements. But in my opinion it is unnecessary and 
would be unwise to extend them. 

Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable 
establishments, on a respectable defensive posture, we 
may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary 
emergencies. 

Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are 
recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But 
even our commercial policy should hold an equal and 
impartial hand: neither seeking nor granting exclusive 



30 AMERICANIZATION 

favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of 

things 

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of 
an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will 
make the strong and lasting impression I could wish, 
that they will control the usual current of the passions, 
or prevent our nation from running the course which has 
hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But if I may 
even flatter myself that they may be productive of some 
partial benefit; some occasional good, that they may now 
and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to 
warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard 
against the impostures of pretended patriotism, this 
hope will bfe a full recompense for the solicitude of your 
welfare, by which they have been dictated. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Does Washington's advice, offered in 1796, apply to 
present-day conditions? 2. What modern inventions have 
effected a change from America's previous isolation from Europe? 

THE GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED BY 

THE CONSTITUTION* 

Elihu Root 

The Constitution of the United States deals in the main 
with essentials. There are some non-essential directions 
such as those relating to the methods of election and of 
legislation, but in the main it sets forth the foundations 
of government in clear, simple, concise terms. It is for 
this reason that it has stood the test of more than a cen- 
tury with but slight amendment, while the modern 
state constitutions, into which a multitude of ordinary 

*From Experiments in Government. Copyright, 1913, by the 
Princeton University Press. Reprinted by permission. 



ELIHU ROOT 31 

statutory provisions are crowded, have to be changed 
from year to year. The peculiar and essential qualities 
of the government established by the Constitution are: 

First, it is representative. 

Second, it recognizes the liberty of the individual 
citizen as distinguished from the total mass of citizens, 
and it protects that liberty by specific limitations upon 
the power of government. 

Third, it distributes the legislative, executive, and 
judicial powers, which make up the sum total of all 
government, into three separate departments, and 
specifically limits the powers of the officers of each 
department. 

Fourth, it superimposes upon a federation of state 
governments a national government with sovereignty 
acting directly not merely upon the states, but upon the 
citizens of each state, within a line of limitation drawn 
between the powers of the national government and the 
powers of the state governments. 

Fifth, it makes observance of its limitations requisite 
to the validity of laws, whether passed by the nation or 
by the states, to be judged by the courts of law in each 
concrete case as it arises. 

Every one of these five characteristics of the govern- 
ment established by the Constitution was a distinct 
advance beyond the ancient attempts at popular govern- 
ment, and the elimination of any one of them would be 
a retrograde movement and a reversion to a former and 
discarded type of government. In each case it would be 
the abandonment of a distinctive feature of government 
which has succeeded, in order to go back and try again 
the methods of government which have failed. Of 
course we ought not to take such a backward step except 
under the pressure of inevitable necessity. 



32 AMEKICANIZATION 

Questions and Exercises 
1. What is the difference between a government by repre- 
sentation and a pure democracy? 2. How does our Constitu- 
tion recognize "the liberty of the individual citizen"? 3. Why 
is ours called a government of balanced powers? . 4. What are 
the dangers of an over-centralized government? 5. Give an 
example of the author's fifth point. 

THE FRAME OF NATIONAL GOVERNMENT* 
James Bryce 

Every European State has to fear not only the rivalry 
but the aggression of its neighbors. Even Britain, so 
long safe in her insular home, has lost some of her security 
by the growth of steam navies. She, like the powers of 
the European continent, must maintain her system of 
government in full efficiency for war as well as for peace, 
and cannot afford to let her armaments decline, her 
finances become disordered, the vigor of her Executive 
authority be impaired. 

Had Canada or Mexico grown to be a great power, had 
France not sold Louisiana, or had England, rooted on 
the American continent, become a military despotism, 
the United States could not indulge the easy optimism 
which makes them tolerate the faults of their govern- 
ment. As it is, that which might prove to a European 
State a mortal disease is here nothing worse than a teas- 
ing ailment. Since the War of Secession ended, no 
serious danger has arisen either from within or from 
without to alarm American statesmen. Social con- 
vulsions from within, warlike assaults from without, 
seem now as unlikely to try the fabric of the American 

*From The American Commonwealth (Revise Edition), Part I, 
Chapter XXVI. Reprinted by permission of The MacmillaD 
Company. 



JAMES BRYCE 33 

Constitution as an earthquake to rend the walls of the 
Capitol. 

It must never be forgotten that the main object which 
the f ramers of the Constitution set before themselves 
has been achieved. When Sieyes was asked what he had 
done during the Reign of Terror, he answered, "I lived/' 
The Constitution as a whole has stood and stands 
unshaken. The scales of power have continued to hang 
fairly even. The president has not corrupted and 
enslaved Congress: Congress has not paralyzed and 
cowed the president. The legislature may have some- 
times appeared to be gaining on the executive depart- 
ment; but there are also times when the people support 
the president against the legislature, and when the 
legislature is obliged to recognize the fact. Were 
George Washington to return to earth, he might be as 
great and useful a president as he was more than a 
century ago. Neither the legislature nor the executive 
has for a moment threatened the liberties of the people. 
The states have not broken up the Union, and the 
Union has not absorbed the states. No wonder that the 
Americans are proud of an instrument under which this 
great result has been attained, which has passed 
unscathed through the furnace of civil war, which has 
been found capable of embracing a body of common- 
wealths more than three times as numerous, and with 
twenty-fold the population of the original states, which 
has cultivated the political intelligence of the masses 
to a point reached in no other country, which has fos- 
tered and been found compatible with a larger measure 
of local self-government than has existed elsewhere. 
Nor is it the least of its merits to have made itself 
beloved. Objections may be taken to particular fea- 
tures, and these objections point, as most American 



34 AMERICANIZATION 

thinkers are agreed, to practical improvements which 
would preserve the excellences and remove some of the 
inconveniences. But reverence for the Constitution has 
become so potent a conservative influence, that no pro- 
posal of fundamental change seems likely to be enter- 
tained. And this reverence is itself one of the most 
wholesome and hopeful elements in the character of the 
American people. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. When was the Constitution last amended? 2. When, 
and to whom, did France sell Louisiana? 3. What are "social 
convulsions"? Give an example. 

THE OLDEST FREE ASSEMBLIES* 

Arthur James Balfour 

The House of Representatives and the British House 
of Commons are the greatest and oldest of the free 
assemblies now governing great nations in the world. 
The history of the two is very different. The beginnings 
of the British House of Commons go back to a dim 
historic past and its full rights and status have only 
been conquered and permanently secured after centuries 
of political struggle. 

Your fate has been a happier one. You were called 
into existence at a much later stage of social develop- 
ment. You came into being complete and perfected, 
and all your powers determined and your place in the 
constitution secured beyond chance of revolution; but, 
though the history of these two assemblies is different, 
each of them represents the great democratic principles 

*From a speech in the United States House of Representatives, 
1917. 



GEOKGE BANCKOFT 35 

to which we look forward as the security for the future 
peace of the world. 

All of the free assemblies now to be found governing 
the great nations of the earth have been modeled either 
upon your practice or upon ours or upon both combined. 

We all, I think, feel instinctively that this is one of 
the great moments in the history of the world, and that 
what is happening on both sides of the Atlantic repre- 
sents the drawing together of great and free peoples for 
mutual protection against the aggression of military 
despotism. 

I am not one of those who are such bad democrats 
as to say that democracies make no mistakes. All free 
assemblies have made blunders; sometimes they have 
committed crimes. And yet, may we not look forward 
with confidence to the spirit of free institutions as one 
of the greatest guarantees of the future peace of the 
world? 

Questions and Exercises 

1. How does the British House of Commons differ from our 
House of Representatives as to time of choosing its members? 
2. Does England, as is sometimes claimed, have a more demo- 
cratic government than America? 

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE 

George Bancroft 

The sovereignty of the people is the basis of our 
system. With the people the power resides both 
theoretically and practically. The government is a 
determined, uncompromising democracy, administered 
immediately by the people, or by the people's responsible 
agents. • In all the European treatises on political 
economy, and even in the state papers of the Holy 



36 AMERICANIZATION 

Alliance, the welfare of the people is acknowledged to be 
the object of government. We believe so too; but as 
each man's interests are safest in his own keeping, so, 
in like manner, the interests of the people can be best 
guarded by themselves. If the institution of monarchy 
were neither tyrannical nor oppressive, it should at least 
be dispensed with as a costly superfluity. 

We believe the sovereign power should reside equally 
among the people. We acknowledge no hereditary 
distinctions, and we confer on no man prerogatives of 
peculiar privileges. Even the best services rendered the 
state cannot destroy this original and essential equality. 
Legislation and justice are not hereditary offices; no 
one is born to power, no one handed into political great- 
ness. Our government, as it rests for support on reason 
and our interests, needs no protection from a nobility; 
and the strength and ornament of the land consist in its 
industry and morality, its justice and intelligence. 

The states of Europe are all intimately allied with the 
church and fortified by religious sanctions. We approve 
of the influence of the religious principle on public not 
less than on private life; but we hold religion to be an 
affair between each individual conscience and God, 
superior to all political institutions and independent of 
them. Christianity was neither introduced nor reformed 
by the civil power; and with us the modes of worship are 
in no wise prescribed by the state. 

Thus, then, the people govern, and solely; it does not 
divide its power with an hierarchy, a nobility, or a king. 
The popular voice is all-powerful with us; this is our 
oracle, and this, we acknowledge, is the voice of God. 
Invention is solitary, but who shall judge its results? 
Inquiry may pursue truth apart, but who shall decide 
if truth be overtaken? There is no safe criterion of 



MARY L. BEADY 37 

opinion but the careful exercise of the public judgment; 
and in the science of government, as elsewhere, the 
deliberate convictions of mankind, reasoning on the 
cause of their own happiness, their own wants and inter- 
ests, are the surest revelations of political truth. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. What was the Holy Alliance? 2. What is an hierarchy? 

AMERICAN LIBERTY* 
Mary L. Brady 

Principal, East Side Evening High School for Women 

Should you analyze the American ideal you would 
consider liberty an important ingredient of it, wouldn't 
you? Our country 's heroes from Patrick Henry onward 
glorified it. It enlivens every patriotic song of ours, it 
speaks in mottoes of American states and cities, it gives 
meanings to emblems in coats of arms and decorations, 
our beautiful allegorical figure is the Goddess of Libert} r . 
There are keen-minded souls, mostly young and often 
born abroad, interesting members of our classes, who 
repeat " America is no land of liberty." For a year or 
more, reports from Russia record that this is spoken 
of America over and over. I have heard it from street 
orators here, many a time. Evening-school teachers 
have asked how to meet it. Would it not be w^ell to ask 
what the questioner's idea of liberty is? Why not show 
him that liberty in American history, has, from the 
beginning, had an American meaning, possibly different 
from the definition he wants to give? American Liberty 
has meant freedom to worship according to your own 
religion, freedom from the rule of hereditary monarchs 

*From Nigh t Message, New York Evening Schools. 



,38 AMEBICANIZATION 

who claimed divine right to power, freedom to vote as 
you choose, to change the national government every 
four years, the state and municipal governments more 
frequently; freedom from attainder and entail, from 
imprisonment for many acts still punishable in other 
countries, freedom from trial without a right to be 
heard or without the decision of a jury. 

But American liberty has not only always meant 
freedom of the people to govern themselves by repre- 
sentatives of their own choosing, it has always meant 
that there shall be government. It has always meant 
order and respect for the will of the majority. If 
religious freedom was used as a cloak for polygamy, a 
practice revolting to the proprieties respected by the 
majority, religious freedom was restricted. Tell the 
story of the Mormons. If freedom of speech threatened 
the peace of the Nation, freedom of speech was curtailed. 
Tell the story of the pestiferous Citizen Genet and the 
Alien and Sedition Laws. If freedom of action meant 
resistance to the law, freedom was refused. Tell the 
story of Washington, a father of liberty, and what he 
thought of the Whiskey Rebellion. If the idea of liberty 
led states to attempt to dissolve the nation, other states 
prevented it by force. Tell the story of Andrew Jackson 
and South Carolina, of Lincoln and the great lesson of 
the civil war. Show that liberty has always been, in 
America, indissolubly linked with union. " Liberty and 
Union, now and forever, one and inseparable/' has been 
an American watchword for more than half a century. 

Absolute, unrestrained liberty was never an Amer- 
ican aim. On the contrary the dangers of unorganized 
liberty, liberty which meant disorder, anarchy, personal 
selfishness, lack of consideration for the common good, 
were apprehended immediately after the war of libera- 



HEKRY W. GRADY 39 

tion was ended and led the men who had done the most 
for liberty to set regular and constitutional bounds to it. 
Show how our original and fundamental instrument, the 
law of our being, the enactment that made us a Nation, 
put union first: in order to form a more perfect Union, 
to establish justice, to insure domestic tranquility, 
to provide for the common defence, to promote the 
general welfare and to secure the blessings of liberty to 
ourselves and to our posterity, we, the people of the 
United States, do ordain and establish this constitution. 
Every one of these phrases is worth a heart-to-heart 
talk on separate nights with every class in school until 
by persuasion, by reasonableness, by conviction, a 
teacher leaves no doubt that the soap-box rantings 
against present-day America are answerable by the 
history of American political thought. 

THE FOUNDATION OF THE REPUBLIC* 
Henry W. Grady 

Not long since I made a trip to Washington, and as I 
stood on Capitol Hill iny heart beat quick as I looked at 
the towering marble of my country's Capitol, and the 
mist gathered in my eyes as I thought of its tremendous 
significance, and the armies, and the Treasury, and the 
courts, and congress and the president, and all that was 
gathered there. And I felt that the sun in all its course 
could not look down upon a better sight than that 
majestic home of the Republic that had taught the world 
its best lessons in liberty. 

Two days afterward I went to visit a friend in the 
country, a modest man, with a quiet country home. It 

*From The Orations and, Speeches of Henry W. Grady, by 
E. D. Shurter. Used by permission. 



40 AMERICANIZATION 

was just a simple, unpretentious house, set about with 
great big trees, encircled in meadow and fields rich with 
the promise of harvest. The fragrance of pink and 
hollyhock in the front yard was mingled with the aroma 
of the orchard and the garden, and resonant with the 
cluck of poultry and the hum of bees. Inside w r as quiet, 
cleanliness, thrift and comfort. Outside there stood 
my friend — master of his land and master of himself. 
There was his old father, an aged, trembling man, happy 
in the heart and home of his son. And as they started 
to their home the hands of the old man went down on 
the young man's shoulders, laying there the unspeakable 
blessing of an honored and grateful father, and ennobling 
it with the Knighthood of the Fifth Commandment. 
And I saw the night come down on that home, falling 
gently as from the wings of an unseen dove, and the old 
man, while a startled bird called from the forest, and 
the trees shrilled with the cricket's cry, and the stars 
were swarming in the sky, got the family around him 
and, taking the old Bible from the table, called them to 
their knees, while he closed th£ record of that simple day 
by calling down God's blessing on that family and that 
home. 

And while I gazed, the vision of the marble Capitol 
faded. Forgotten were its treasures and its majesty, 
and I said: "O, surely, here in the hearts of the people 
are lodged at last the strength and responsibilities of this 
government, the hope and promise of this Republic." 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Why is the home "the hope and promise of this Republic"? 
2. What conditions in modern times have tended to break up 
the solidity of the home? 



PART TWO 
THE STORY AND MEANING OF OUR FLAG 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN FLAG 

Every country has one or more symbols that represent 
the principles and ideals of its government. The most ! 
familiar symbol of a nation is its flag. /pThe flag stands 
for the nation itself. When we uphold and honor our 
country's flag, therefore, we are supporting our country; 
itself and all that it means to us.; There is more mean- 
ing than we sometimes realize in the slogan, "Rally 
round the Flag." jj 

There were several different flags in Colonial times, 
but the first real American flag had its origin in the 
following resolution adopted by the American Congress, 
June 14, 1777: "Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen 
United States be thirteen stripes alternate red and white ; 
that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, 
representing a new constellation." 

According to the story, a rough pencil drawing, made 
by Washington himself, was taken to Mrs. Betsy Ross, 
who kept an upholsterer's shop in Philadelphia. "Can 
you make a flag after this design?" she was asked. Her 
answer was, "I don't know, but I'll try." She did try, 
stitching the seams of every stripe and sewing in the stars 
in a circle, and this was our first real national flag. No 
wonder that an association has been formed to buy and 
keep, for patriotic purposes, the home in which was 
made, by the hands of Betsy Ross, the first real Ameri- 
can flag. 

Although there has been no material change in the 
flag as originally designed, its present form was adopted 
only about one hundred years ago. It was first planned, 
you will recall, for the thirteen original states. As other 
states were admitted to the Union, a stripe and a star 

43 



U AMEBICAXIZATIOX 

were added to the flag. This plan was continued well 
into the first quarter of the nineteenth century and until 
the flag had twenty stripes and twenty stars. It was 
then seen that if a stripe and a star were added for each 
new state, it would be necessary to increase the size of 
the flag indefinitely. So on April 4, 1819, Congress 
enacted: 

"That from and after the fourth day of July next, the 
flag of the United States be thirteen horizontal stripes, 
alternate red and white; that the union have twenty 
stars, white in a blue field; that on the admission of every 
new state into the Union, one star be added to the 
union of the flag, and that such addition shall take effect 
on the fourth of July next succeeding such admission." 

And thus on July 4, 1819, our flag took the permanent 
form as we have it to-day. The thirteen red and white 
stripes and the white constellation of states in the sky- 
blue field have inspired and guided and protected this 
great Republic of ours during the past century of our 
wonderful history, and with our loyal support the flag 
shall guide and protect America for another century — 
and another — and for ayei 

Questions axd Exercises 
1. What can you tell about the other flags used in Colonial 
days? 2. What is the proper form of saluting the flag? 

3. How should the flag be hung when used for wall decoration? 

4. Should it be used for advertising purposes? Why? 

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER* 

Henry "Watterson 
It was during the darkest days of our second war for 

*From an address at the dedication of the monument over the 
grave of the author of "The Star-Spangled Banner," Frederick, 
Maryland, August 9, 1908. By permission of the author. 



HEXRY WATTEESON 45 

independence. An English army had burned the 
Capitol; an English fleet was in possession of the Chesa- 
peake Bay and both these forces were preparing to 
attack Baltimore. 

In order to secure the liberation of a friend, who 
was held a prisoner on the British fleet, Francis Scott 
Key obtained leave of the President to go to the British 
admiral under a flag of truce. His mission was success- 
ful, but he and his companion were kept under guard 
during the enemy's advance. Thus it was that the night 
of the fourteenth of September, 1814, Key witnessed the 
bombardment of Fort McHenry, which his song was to 
render illustrious. He did not quit the deck the long 
night through. With a single companion, he watched 
every shell from the moment it was fired until it fell. 
As soon as day dawned, and before it was light enough 
to see objects at a distance, their glasses were turned to 
the fort, uncertain whether they should see there the 
Stars and Stripes or the flag of the enemy. 

During the night the conception of the poem began 
to form itself in Key's mind. With the early glow of the 
morning, when the long agony of suspense had been 
turned into the rapture of exultation, his feeling found 
expression in completed lines of verse, which he wrote 
upon the back of a letter he happened to have in his 
possession. 

The poem tells its own story, and never a truer, for 
every word comes direct from a great heroic soul, powder- 
stained and dipped, as it were, in sacred blood. 

"O, say, can you sse by the dawn's early light 

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming, 

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, 
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?" 



46 AMERICANIZATION 

The two that walked the deck of the cartel boat had 
waited long. They had counted the hours as they 
watched the course of the battle. But a deeper anxiety 
yet is to possess them. The firing has ceased. Whilst 
cannon roared they knew that the fort held out. Whilst 
the sky was lit by messengers of death they could see 
the national colors flying above it. 

— "the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there!" 

But there comes an end at last to waiting and watch- 
ing, and as the first rays of the sun shoot above the 
horizon and gild the eastern shore, behold the sight that 
gladdens their eyes as it 

— "catches' the gleam of the morning's first beam, 
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream." 

for there, over the battlements of McHenry, the Stars 
and Stripes floats defiant on the breeze, whilst all around 
evidences multiply that the attack has lailed, that the 
Americans have successfully resisted it, and that the 
British are withdrawing their forces. For then, and 
for now, and for all time, come the words of the anthem: 

"O, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand 

Between their loved homes and the war's desolation! 

Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land 
Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation !" 

for — 

— "conquer we must when our cause it is just, 
And this be our motto, 'In God is our trust'; 
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!" 



FRANKLIN K. LANE 49 

LOYALTY PLEDGE 

Adapted from Various Sources 

Flag of Freedom! true to thee 
All our thoughts, words, deeds shall be, — 
Pledging steadfast loyalty! 

I pledge allegiance to my flag and to. the Republic 
for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty 
and justice for all. I believe in the United States of 
America as a government of the people, by the people, 
for the people; whose just powers are derived from the 
consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a 
sovereign nation of many sovereign states; a perfect 
union, one and inseparable; established upon those 
principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity 
for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and 
fortunes. 

I, therefore, believe it is my duty to love it, to support 
its constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and 
to defend it against all enemies, for I AM AN AMERI- 
CAN! 

Questions and Exercises 
Compose a pledge that embodies your ideas of loyalty and 
patriotism. 

THE MAKING OF OUR COUNTRY'S FLAG* 
Franklin K. Lane 

This morning, as I passed into the Land Office, the 
flag dropped me a most cordial salutation, and from its 
rippling folds I heard it say: "Good morning, Mr. 
Flag-maker.' ' 

*Adapted from a speech delivered on Flag Day, 1914, before the 
employees of the Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. 
By permission of the author. . 



50 AMEKICAXIZATIOX 



"i 



( I beg your pardon, Old Glory," I said, "you are 
mistaken. I am not the President of the United States, 
nor the Vice-President, nor a member of Congress, nor 
even a General in the Army. I am only a Government 
clerk." 

"I greet you again, Mr. Flag-maker/' replied the gay 
voice. "I know you well. You are the man who worked 
in the swelter of yesterday straightening out the tangle 
of that farmer's homestead in Idaho." 

"No, I am not," I was forced to confess. 

"Well, perhaps you are the one who discovered the 
mistake in that Indian contract in Oklahoma?" 

"No, wrong again," I said. 

"Well, you helped to clear that patent for the hopeful 
inventor in Xew York, or pushed the opening of that 
new ditch in Colorado, or made that mine in Illinois 
more safe, or brought relief to the old soldier in Wyoming. 
Xo matter, whichever one of these beneficent individuals 
you may happen to be, I give you greeting, Mr. Flag- 
maker." 

"But," I said, impatiently, "these people were only 
workkig." 

Then came a great shout from the flag. 

"Let me tell you who I am. The work that we do is 
the making of the real flag. I am not the flag, at all. I 
am but its shadow. I am whatever you make me, 
nothing more. I am your belief in yourself, your dream 
of what a people may become. I live a changing life, a 
life of moods and passions, of heart breaks and tired 
muscles. Sometimes I am strong with pride, when 
men do an honest work, fitting the rails together truly. 
Sometimes I droop, for then purpose has gone from me, 
and cynically I play the coward. Sometimes I am loud, 
garish, and full of that ego that blasts judgment. But 



HEXEY WARD BEECHER 51 

always I am all that you hope to be and have the courage 
to try for. I am song and fear, struggle and panic, and 
ennobling hope. I am the day's work of the weakest 
man and the largest dream of the most daring. I am 
the Constitution and the courts, statutes and statute- 
makers, soldier and dreadnought, drayman and street- 
sweep, cook, counselor, and clerk. I am the battle of 
yesterday and the mistake of to-morrow. I am the 
mystery of the men who do without knowing why. I 
am the clutch of an idea and the reasoned purpose of 
resolution. I am no more than what you believe me to 
be, and I am all that you believe I can be. I am what 
you make me, nothing more. I swing before your eyes 
as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself, the pic- 
tured suggestion of that big thing which makes this 
nation. My stars and my stripes are your dreams and 
your labors. They are bright with cheer, brilliant with 
courage, firm with faith, because you have made them 
so out of your hearts, for you are the makers of the flag, 
and it is well that you glory in the making." 

Questions and Exercises 
1. What does the flag mean when it says: "I am what you 
make me, nothing more' 7 2. Why is our flag called "Old 
Glory"? How does James Whitcomb Riley answer this ques- 
tion in his poem, "The Name of Old Glory"? 



THE NATIONAL FLAG 
Henry Ward Beecher 

A thoughtful mind, when it sees a nation's flag, sees 
not the flag, but the nation itself. And whatever may be 
its symbols, its insignia, he reads chiefly in the flag the 
government, the principles, the truths, the history, that 



52 AMEEICAXIZATIOX 

belongs to the nation that sets it forth. When the 
French tricolor rolls out to the wind we see France. 
When the new-found Italian flag is unfurled, we see 
resurrected Italy. When the united crosses of St. 
Andrew and St. George, on a fiery ground, set forth the 
banner of Old England, we see not the cloth merely: 
there rises up before the mind the idea of that great 
monarchy. 

This nation has a banner, too; and until recently 
wherever it streamed abroad men saw daybreak bursting 
on their eyes For until lately the American flag has 
been a symbol of Liberty, and men rejoiced in it. Not 
another flag on the glebe had such an errand, or went 
forth upon the sea carrying everywhere, the world 
around, such hope to the captive and such glorious tid- 
ings. The stars upon it were to the pining nations like 
the bright morning stars of God, and the stripes upon 
it were beams of morning light. As at early dawn the 
stars shine forth even while it grows light, and then as 
the sun advances that light breaks into banks and 
streaming lines of color, the glowing red and intense 
white striving together, and ribbing the horizon with 
bars effulgent, so, on the American flag, stars and beams 
of many-colored light shine out together. And wherever 
this flag comes and men behold it they see in its sacred 
emblazonry no ramping lion and no fierce eagle: no 
embattled castles or insignia of imperial authority: they 
see the symbols of light. It is the banner of Dawn. 

Questions axd Exercises 

1 . Who made the first American flag 2. Where and under 
what circumstances was it made? 3. Why does our flag have 
live-pointed instead of six-pointed stars? 



FBAXKLIX K. LAXE 53 

AMERICA'S MISSION* 
Franklin K. Lane 

What is the story of America? Is it told in the flag? 
The flag is but a symbol. It represents hopes and 
achievements, and longings and fears; but the flag is 
not America. 

The story of America is not told by the story of the 
landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, or by the story of the 
advance of the immigrant across the continent in con- 
quering this country It is not told by the story of the 
battle of Yorktown, or Gettysburg, or Santiago, or 
Manilla. It is not told by our great inventions and our 
great inventors, Whitney and Edison. It is not told 
by outlining the philosophy of Henry James, William 
James or Emerson. It is not told by our poetry, through 
Poe, through Longfellow and through Lowell. 

America is an aspiration. America is a spirit. America 
is something mystical which lives in the heavens. It is 
the constant and continuous searching of the human 
heart for the thing that has been. 

The people that I love, the people that make a com- 
mon nation with me, are the people into whose eyes I 
can look with frankness and directness, and know that 
what they say, they mean. They are people whom I 
instinctively understand, who speak my language. 

The people that I love, and the people who make the 
land that I love, are people who can put their hands 
down into the soil of this country, and take their hands 
out and smell that soil, and say "That is ours; we are 
identified with it; we are tied to it and we love it, and 
will fight and sacrifice for it." 

*Adapted from an article in The Delineator, August, 1918. Used 
by permission. 



54 AMERICANIZATION 

The people that I love, and the land that I love, is 
the land where my boy's dreams of his future may come 
true; a land in which I would lead him to realize the 
aspirations of his heart. 

The land that I love is the land in which my soul, my 
spirit, my life, my ambition can have expression, where 
I can feel that, although I may be of the most humble 
origin, yet opportunity will open before me, so that I 
can rise, not merely to place and to power, but to the 
fullest expression of manhood, whatever manhood there 
may be in me. 

So that I am not held down; so that I am not 
oppressed; so that no kaiser or czar can put his foot 
upon me and compel me to a course that is contrary 
to the right impulse of my nature; so with my neigh- 
bor as myself, that I may regard myself as rightfully 
entitled to develop every possibility and opportunity 
there is in me to serve my fellows, and serve myself 
and serve mankind. 

We are trying the great problem in the United States 
of a wonderful experiment, an experiment that never 
has been tried before. We are gathering here from all 
the ends of the world the men and the women, Teutons, 
Celts, Slavs, all kinds of races, and we are seeing if they 
merge; if we can blend them; if we can make them a solid 
whole; if we can bring them into harmony. No other 
people on the face of the globe have ever had the temerity 
to attempt any such thing. Rome in her proudest day 
did not attempt it. 

But we have lost faith in our own philosophy, in the 
triumph and in the effectual conquest by liberty of all 
the ills of man, if we have said, "Come here and we will 
make you one" — and if, after saying so, we have failed 
to accomplish it. If we do it, and I say we have done it 



FEANKLIN K. LANE 55 

— if we do it, then we are to develop upon this continent 
the greatest race that the world has known, and the 
most powerful government that the centuries have 
known — a people that will stand out for ten thousand 
years. We are blending them together, making a new 
nation, establishing order, being just, dealing with man- 
kind in terms of fair play, and we are making a new 
people. 

We are teaching the world what can be done. Why? 
Because we do not believe that blood determines a man's 
destiny. Because we believe that by environment, by 
education, by the kind of people that he lives with, by 
the kind of sympathy that he meets, by the kind of ideas 
that he takes into his head, by the kind of things that 
he sees done, and by the kind of work he does, there can 
be developed a man that will master his blood, no matter 
what that blood may be; and that is the kind of inter- 
nationalism that I believe in. 

We who are new to this movement have been dis- 
covering strange things of late — things full of surprise. 
Five and one-half millions of our people in the United 
States cannot read or write this language. We have 
discovered that our neglect of the education of those 
people who have been brought here reduces the efficiency 
of man-power. 

We are realizing that we have not been able to get 
inside of the other fellow's mind and look out through 
his eyes, and you can never deal with a hwnan being 
until you are able to get inside of him and look out 
through his eyes. You must have that kind of sym- 
pathy which enables you to understand him, and then 
you will be able to. help him; that is the task for which 
the government asks your aid. 

Let us take a strong resolution that America 



56 AMERICANIZATION 

will be a land in which there will be a surer justice and 
finer sympathy, a greater love for all mankind, a fuller 
realization of the hopes of our fathers, and of the hopes 
that are within our breasts. 
Let us make America more worthy of our dreams! 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Why is it that five and one-half millions of our people 
cannot read or write English? 2. Why does their ignorance 
reduce their efficiency? 3. What is the America of your 
dreams? 

A LAST PLEA FOR AMERICANISM* 

Theodore Roosevelt 

There must be no sagging back in the fight for Ameri- 
canism merely because the war is over. 

There are plenty of persons who have already made 
the assertion that they believe the American people 
have a short memory and that they intend to revive all 
the foreign associations which most directly interfere 
with the complete Americanization of our people. Our 
principle in this matter should be absolutely simple. 

In the first place, we should insist that if the immi- 
grant who comes here does in good faith become an 
American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be 
treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is 
an outrage to discriminate against any such man because 
of creed or birthplace or origin. But this is predicted 
upon the man's becoming in very fact an American and 
nothing but an American. 

If he tries to keep segregated with men of his own 
origin and separated from the rest of America, then he 

*An extract from the last message of Theodore Roosevelt, read 
at a meeting which he was too ill to attend. 



THEODOEE EOOSEVELT 57 

isn't doing his part as an American. There can be no 
divided allegiance at all. 

We have room for but one flag, the American flag, 
and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars 
against liberal government and civilization just as much 
as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are 
hostile. We have room for but one language here and that 
is the English language, for w r e intend to see that the 
crucible turns our people cut as Americans, of American 
nationality, and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding- 
house; and we have room for but one soul loyalty, and 
that is loyalty to the American people. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Why does the immigrant try to keep segregated with 
men of his own origin and separated from the rest of America? 
2. How can he be persuaded not to wish to do this? 3. What 
is meant by "a polyglot boarding-house"? 



PART THREE 
GREAT NAMES IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



WASHINGTON AND AMERICANISM* 
James Sullivan 

Throughout the course of our history in this country 
teachers and statesmen have been inclined to ask, when 
confronted by some difficult question: "What did 
Washington say about this?" And it is seldom that 
they have not found some satisfactory answer to their 
query. 

At the present time, we are confronted with many 
problems which are summed up in the words True 
Americanism, and here again we are inclined to turn 
to the writings and sayings of Washington to see if we 
cannot get from him some suggestive solutions for our 
problem. In this we are not disappointed, for in his day, 
as in our own, the people of the United States were con- 
fronted with the condition of having within the borders 
of their country members of various European races 
whom fate had thrown together on these shores, but 
who were, as Washington termed them, in his Farewell 
Address: "Citizens by birth, or by choice of a common 
country." 

In speaking further to all of his people he said: "The 
country has a right to your affections." To those who 
were born here, as well as to those who came here of their 
own volition, he said: "The name of American, which 
belongs to you in your national capacity, must always 
exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appel- 
lation derived from local discriminations." "You have 
in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the 
Independence and Liberty you possess are the work of 
joint councils, and joint efforts, of common dangers, 
sufferings and successes." 

*By permission of the author. 

61 



62 AMERICANIZATION 

Again because of the great victory won over a mon- 
archical power, and because of the great experiment 
which was launched by a people to determine whether 
a great nation could be conducted and properly governed 
without kings, without nobility, and without privilege, 
he held it before the world with the words: "Nations 
yet strangers to liberty will be led to love it and to seek 
it." He evidently, in his day, could not conceive that 
people would come to these shores and seek to destroy 
the institutions of the land which he had fought so hard 
to put in its position of independence. 

Above all he had faith in the children as the true 
Americans. They tell an anecdote of him in the early 
days of the Revolution when he was passing through a 
New England village. The children all pressed close 
to him and called him " Father." Deeply touched he 
turned to one of his generals and said: "The English 
may beat us. It is the chance of war. But behold an 
army which they can never conquer." 

Were he to return to this country on the anniversary 
of his birth, he would find these problems of assimilation 
of foreign people much the same as they were in his own 
day, and he would probably address us as he addressed 
his contemporaries when he wrote in 1776: "I have 
labored ever since I have been in the service to discourage 
all kinds of local attachments and distinction of country, 
denominating the whole by the greater name of Ameri- 
can''; or again, when he took up the problem presented 
by emigrants from Europe coming to this country and 
settling in groups of large bodies : " The policy of emigra- 
tion taking place in a body may be much questioned; for 
by so doing they retain the language, habits and princi- 
ples (good or bad) which they bring with them. Never 
forget that we are Americans, the remembrance of which 



W. C. P. BKECKEKRIDGE 63 

will convince us that we ought not to be French or 
English." 

If Washington were to come back to this country 
to-day, he would not stand amazed at the problems of 
Americanization, for he had them in his own time. The 
words quoted from his speeches and his writings show 
how earnestly he strove to meet and solve these ques- 
tions which were raised by the presence of emigrants 
from foreign lands to the United States. His spirit in 
the words of one of his biographers still seems to speak 
and say: "I am still here, my countrymen, to do you 
what good Ijlcan." 

Questions and Exercises 

1. How does the America of to-day compare with the 
America over which Washington was president? 2. From 
what countries in Europe did the immigrants come during 
Washington's time? 

THOMAS JEFFERSON, DEMOCRAT* 
W. C. P. Beeckenridge 

Thomas Jefferson was in its loftiest sense a Democrat; 
he loved, he trusted, the people; he loved his race; he 
was indeed a man, and there was nothing human that 
was foreign to him. He defied man as man, and despised 
and feared all that could create classes or ranks. Man 
as man was free and capable of self-government, was the 
postulate of all his thinking. This was the starting- 
point of all his meditations. All men ought to be free, 
all men shall be free, all men will be free, was the convic- 
tion, the resolve, the hope of his life. His part was to 

* Extract from a speech delivered at a banquet of the Iroquois 
Club, Chicago, April 13, 1883. 



64 " AMEBIC ANIZATION" 

assist in making America free. This was two-fold — one 
part was to secure such a government as would protect 
and maintain freedom; the other was to establish a policy 
that would in the end embrace the continent. With 
such a government expansion was possible; neither the 
number nor the size of the states, nor the extent of 
population or territory, need cause alarm or change. 
If men are free — if governments are founded on the 
consent of the governed; if local governments are 
sovereign and federal governments can be limited by 
written compacts or constitutions, then the possibility 
and modification of mere forms become infinite. If the 
object of all governments is to protect these inalienable 
rights, and freemen can secure that protection by a 
union of states under one compact, then there is no 
permanent failure of free government possible except 
on the singie hypothesis that man is incapable of self- 
government. 

Jefferson rejected this hypothesis for himself, his 
race, and his country, and accepted with a loving, trust- 
ing faith in mankind the verity of his hopes. But there 
must be room for the development of such principles, 
and he held the continent to be ours. This new empire 
was to dictate law to the world, restore peace to the 
earth, give liberty to the oppressed. Here were ample 
homes to be founded for the poor, and plenty for the 
starving. The new era of nobler brotherhood, the sunlit 
dawn of a new day, had begun, and mankind was to find 
ampler room and fresher fields for higher development. 
To Jefferson these dreams were actualities, and with a 
minuteness of details and a practical statesmanship that 
were equal to the prophetic conception, he secured free- 
dom by the abolishment of a state religion; he destroyed 
an aristocracy based on wealth by abolishing the law of 




THOMAS JEFFERSON 



Stuart 



HENEY CABOT LODGE 67 

entails and primo-geniture; he made naturalization easy; 
he dedicated the Northwest to a common country and 
to become free states; he ordered George Rogers Clark 
to seize the bank of the Mississippi River; he aided the 
pioneers of Kentucky to form a new state on the basis of 
universal suffrage and equal representation based on 
numbers, and tried with almost superhuman powers to 
abolish slavery. By these wonderful achievements the 
new republic began its career with the freedom of religion, 
freedom from possible aristocracy, and the certainty of 
the addition of new states. 

JOHN MARSHALL* 

Henry Cabot Lodge 
What do we know of the man, John Marshall? The 
statesman we know, the great lawyer, the profound 
jurist, the original thinker, the unrivalled reasoner. 
All this is to be found in his decisions and in his public 
life, carved deep in the history of the times. But of the 
man himself we know little; in proportion to his great- 
ness and the part he played we know almost nothing. 
He was a silent man, doing his great work in the world 
and saying nothing of himself. Marshall seems to have 
destroyed all his own papers; certainly none of conse- 
quence are known to exist now. Brief memoirs by some 
of his contemporaries, scattered letters, stray recollec- 
tions and fugitive descriptions, are all that we have to 
help us to see and know the man. Yet his personality 
is so strong that from these fragments and from the 
study of his public life it stands forth to all who look 
with understanding and sympathy. A great intellect; 

*From an address delivered before the Bar Associations of Illinois 
and Chicago, in Chicago, February 4, 1901. By permission of the 
author and Charles Scribner's Sons, Publishers. 



68 AMEKICANIZATION 

a clear sight which was never dimmed, but which always 
recognized facts and scorned delusions; a powerful will; 
a courage, moral, mental, and physical, which nothing 
could daunt — all these things lie upon the surface. 
Deeper down we discern a directness of mind, a purity 
and strength of character, a kind heart, and abundant 
humor, and a simplicity and modesty which move our 
admiration as beyond the bounds of eulogy. 

He was a very great man. The proofs of his greatness 
lie all about us, in our history, our law, our constitu- 
tional development, our public thought. But there is 
one witness to his greatness of soul which seems to me to 
outweigh all the others. He had been a soldier and 
lawyer and statesman; he had been an envoy to France, 
a member of Congress, Secretary of State, and Chief 
Justice. He did a great work and no one knew better 
than he how great it had been. Then when he came to 
die he wrote his own epitaph, and all he asked to have 
recorded was his name, the date of his birth, the date of 
his marriage, and the date of his death. What a noble 
pride and what a fine simplicity are there! In the pres- 
ence of such a spirit, at the close of such a life, almost 
anything that can be said would seem tawdry and 
unworthy. His devoted friend, Judge Story, wished to 
have inscribed upon Marshall's tomb the words, 
' Expounder of the Constitution." Even this is some- 
thing too much and also far too little. He is one of that 
small group of men who have founded states. He is a 
nation-maker, a state-builder. His monument is in the 
history of the United States, and his name is written 
upon the Constitution of his country. 

Questions and Exercises 
Discuss the influence of Marshall in giving the United States 
Supreme Court the position it occupies in our government. 




JOHN MARSHALL 



JOSEPH H. CHOATE 71 

ALEXANDER HAMILTON* 

Joseph H. Choate 

Revolutionary periods produce, if they do not create, 
men of genius whom the exigencies of the times demand. 
Whether they are bred out of the conditions which create 
the revolution, or always exist in every community, 
waiting for the supreme summons to call them forth, 
seems little to the purpose to inquire. The appointed 
hour strikes and the man appears. 

In the subsequent making of the new nation, which 
the success of Washington and his companions-in-arms 
at last rendered possible, there appeared a considerable 
body of statesmen, trained in political discussion, tried 
by seven years of w r ar, aroused by the four years of 
anarchy that succeeded, whose combined wisdom and 
foresight framed the Constitution of the United States, 
and set in motion the government which it called into 
being, in a way that to-day challenges the admiration 
and approval of all thinking men. Foremost among 
these in intellectual brilliancy, individual force, con- 
structive capacity, and personal influence was Alexander 
Hamilton. 

The tragical death of Hamilton has done much to 
embalm his name in the memory of his countrymen. 
Great as he was, he was not great enough to rise above 
the barbarous and brutal theory and practice of that 
age, which sanctioned and compelled a resort to the duel 
as the honorable mode of settling personal disputes, but 
to which the cruel sacrifice of his precious life put an 
end, at least in the northern states. Still in the very 

Extract from his inaugural address as President of the Asso- 
ciated Societies of the University of Edinburgh, March 19, 1904. 
By permission of Miss Mabel Choate. 



72 AMEKICANIZATION 

prime of his own life, at the age of forty-seven, in the 
midst of a great career of usefulness, crowned with all 
the laurels which his grateful country could bestow, he 
was called to meet his own untimely fate. He accepted 
the challenge, forced upon him by his most dangerous 
and unscrupulous political adversary, with whom he had 
had many bitter contests, and who was at last determined 
to be rid of him. One glorious July morning, on the 
heights of Weehawken, overlooking the Hudson they 
met for the last and mortal combat. Hamilton fell 
fatally wounded at the first shot of his adversary, having 
fired his own pistol in the air, and so unhappily and 
unworthily ended the life of one of the noblest, manliest, 
and most useful men of whom we have any record — the 
trusted friend and companion of Washington — and one 
of the best gifts of God to the nation which they labored 
together to found. 

Questions and exercises 
1. What ideas advocated by Hamilton were incorporated 
in our Constitution? Consult your United States histories. 



SAMUEL ADAMS AND THE NEW ENGLAND 
TOWN MEETING* 
George William Curtis 

The true glory of Concord, as of all New England, was 
the town-meeting, the nursery of American indepen- 
dence. No other practicable human institution has 
been devised or conceived to secure the just ends of 

*From an oration delivered at the Centennial Celebration of 
Concord Fight, April 19, 1875. Copyrighted, 1894, by Harper 
and Brothers. 




ALEXANDER HAMILTON 



Stuart 



GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS 75 

local government so felicitous as the town-meeting. It 
brought together the rich and the poor, the good and the 
bad, and gave character, eloquence, and natural leader- 
ship free play. It enabled superior experience and 
sagacity to govern; and virtue and intelligence alone are 
rulers by divine right. 

But one cannot speak of the New England town- 
meeting without recalling its great genius, the New- 
Englander in whom the Revolution seemed to be most 
fully embodied. He was not eloquent like Otis, nor 
scholarly like Quincy, nor all-fascinating like Warren; 
yet, bound heart to heart with these great men, he 
gathered all their separate gifts, and, adding to them his 
own, fused the whole in the glow of that untiring energy, 
that unerring perception, that sublime will, which moved 
before the chosen people of the colonies a pillar of cloud 
by day, of fire by night. People of Massachusetts, your 
proud and grateful hearts outstrip my lips in pronouncing 
the name of Samuel Adams. 

During the ten years from the passage of the Stamp 
Act to the day of Lexington and Concord, this poor 
man, in an obscure provincial town beyond the sea, was 
engaged with the British ministry in one of the mightiest 
contests that history records. Not a word in Parlia- 
ment that he did not hear, not an act in the cabinet 
that he did not see. With brain and heart and con- 
science all alive, he opposed every hostile order in council 
with a British precedent, and arrayed against the govern- 
ment of Great Britain the battery of principles impreg- 
nable with the accumulated strength of centuries of 
British conviction. The cold Grenville, the brilliant 
Townsend, the obsequious North, the reckless Hills- 
borough, the crafty Dartmouth, • all the ermined and 
coroneted chiefs of the proudest aristocracy in the world, 



76 AMERICANIZATION 

derided, declaimed, denounced, levied unjust taxes, and 
sent troops to collect them, cheered loudly by a servile 
Parliament, the parasite of a headstrong king; and the 
plain Boston Puritan laid his finger on the vital point 
of the tremendous controversy, and held to it inexorably 
king, lords, commons, the people of England, and the 
people of America. Intrenched in his own honesty, 
the king's gold could not buy him; enshrined in the love 
of his fellow citizens, the king's writ could not take him; 
and when, on the morning of Lexington, the king's 
troops marched to seize him, his sublime faith saw beyond 
the clouds of the moment the rising sun of the America 
that we behold; and, careless of himself, mindful only 
of his country, he exultingly exclaimed, "Oh, what a 
glorious morning!" 

Yet this man held no office but that of Clerk of the 
Assembly, to which he was yearly elected, and that of 
constant moderator of the town-meeting. That was his 
mighty weapon. The town-meeting was the alarm bell 
with which he aroused the continent; it was the rapier 
with which he fenced with the ministry; it was the clay- 
more with which he smote their counsels; it was the 
harp of a thousand strings that he swept into a burst of 
passionate defiance, or an electric call to arms, or a 
proud paean of exulting triumph, defiance, challenge, 
and exultation — all lifting the continent to indepen- 
dence. His indomitable will and command of the 
popular confidence played Boston against London, the 
provincial town-meeting against the royal Parliament, 
Faneuil Hall against St. Stephen's. And as long as the 
American town-meeting is known, its great genius will 
be revered who with the town-meeting overthrew an 
empire. So long as Faneuil Hall stands, Samuel Adams 
will not want his most fitting monument; and, when 



WOODROW WILSON 77 

Faneuil Hall falls, its name with his will be found written 
as with a sunbeam upon every faithful American heart. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Is there at the present time, either in this country or in 
other countries, a civic organization like that of the old New 
England town-meeting? 2. Can you explain all the historical 
allusions in this selection? For example, the quotation from 
Adams at the close of the third paragraph. 3. Who were the 
men that are mentioned as contemporaries of Adams? 4. Find 
in this selection examples of the balanced structure. 



THE LEGACY OF WILLI AM PENN* 

Woodrow Wilson 

To think of William Penn is to think of him as a sort 
of spiritual knight who went out upon his adventures 
to carry the torch that had been put into his hands, so 
that other men might have the path illuminated for 
them which led to justice, liberty, and peace; and it 
cannot be admitted that a man establishes his right to 
call himself a college or high school graduate by exhibit- 
ing his diploma. The only way he can prove it is by 
showing that his eyes are lifted to some horizon which 
other men less instructed than he have not been privi- 
leged to see. Unless he carry freight of the spirit, he 
has not been bred where spirits are bred. William Penn, 
presenting the sweet enterprise of the quiet and powerful 
sect that called themselves Friends, proved his right to 
the title by being the friend of mankind; and he crossed 
the ocean not merely to establish estates in America, 
but to set up a free commonwealth in America and to 

*Adapted from an address to the students of Swaithmore 
College, October 25, 1913. 



78. AMEBIC ANIZATION 

show that he was of the lineage of those who had been 
bred in the best traditions of the human spirit. We 
should not be interested in celebrating the memory of 
William Penn if his conquest had been merely a material 
one. Sometimes we have been laughed at by foreigners 
in particular for boasting about the size of the American 
continent, the size of our own domain as a nation, and 
they have naturally suggested that we did not make it. 
But there is much merit in the claim that every race 
and every man is as big as the thing he takes possession 
of, and that the size of America is in some sense a stan- 
dard of the size and capacity of the American people. 
But the extent of the American conquest is not what 
gives America distinction in the annals of the world. 
It is the professed purpose of the Quaker, which was to 
see to it that every foot of the land should be the home 
of the free, self-governed people, who should have no 
government whatever which did not rest upon the con- 
sent of the governed. And the spirit of Penn will not 
be stayed. You cannot set limits to such adventures. 
After their own days are gone, their spirits stalk the 
world, carrying inspiration everywhere they go, and 
reminding men of the fine lineage of those who have 
sought justice and the right. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Why did President Wilson speak about Penn at Swarth- 
more College? 2. Who are the Quakers? 

CHARACTER OF WEBSTER 
Thomas F. Bayard 

In a humble farm-house in the town of Salisbury, New 
Hampshire, Daniel Webster was born. It was an American 




WILLIAM PENN 






THOMAS F. BAYAED 81 

homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, that " quarter 
section/ ' so well known to the land laws of the United 
States. There this great typical American first saw the 
light. There first he learned, from a pious mother's lips, 
the letters of the language that in later days, by speech 
and writing, he was destined to adorn. From that 
mother's teachings he imbibed in tender infancy those 
vital truths of religion and morality which formed the 
basis of his character, and to-day give strength and 
permanence to the immortal part that survives. 

He was born in New Hampshire, and he died in 
Massachusetts, but he lived and died with a love for his 
whole country that never knew state lines, nor paused 
upon the imaginary boundaries of sections. Nature had 
gifted him with great powers of mind, coupled with warm 
and generous feelings. His intellect enabled him to 
comprehend the mighty and manifold interests of 
humanity, contained within the Federal Union, and his 
heart was large enough to embrace them all. Before 
or since, New England has had no such champion or 
representative, but he gained no victory for her at the 
cost of other portions of his country; and in all the loving 
praise and manly defence of his own home, in no speech 
or letter, wherever uttered or written, not a thought or 
expression, belittling or derogatory to reputation, or 
wounding to the self-love of any other portion of his 
fellow countrymen, have I found. 

Webster was a statesman living under a written 
constitution of government, and his creed may neither 
be stated in a breath, nor condensed into a phrase. It 
would be as delusive as it is unjust to try such a man by 
phrases torn from their context, and by chance expres- 
sions, without interpreting them by the general mean- 
ing which surrounds them. But as to some meanings 



82 AMEKICANIZATION 

there is no doubt; and that Webster was the soldier of 
the constitution, because it created and continued the 
government of "a more perfect Union/ 7 is as fixed as 
the everlasting hills of his native state. With a vision 
that was prophetic, he witnessed the growing alienation 
of his countrymen, and the dangers to the Union which 
it threatened. These apprehensions clouded his antici- 
pations, and the recorded and reiterated warnings and 
deprecations against sectional animosities, that burst 
from his very heart, are almost countless. They form 
part of his history, and read now and hereafter they will 
ever attest the sagacity of his mental vision, and the 
depth and sincerity of his patriotism. 

The veil which hides from our eyes the future, no 
doubt conceals, in mercy, many an assault upon the 
peace, law, and liberty of the land we love; and in the 
misty foreground of the future, I fear there are dimly to 
be discerned forms and shapes of evil. But we must 
stand as the father of Webster stood, "a minute-man," 
ready for their defence, fortified, enlarged, and refreshed 
by the memories and the counsel of our great country- 
man — Daniel Webster. 



Questions and Exercises 
1. Give a few of the outstanding incidents of Webster's 



life. 



CHARLES SUMNER 

Carl Schurz 

Honor to the people of Massachusetts, who for twenty- 
three years kept in the Senate, and would have kept him 
there longer had he lived, a man who never, even to 
them, conceded a single iota of his convictions in order 




DANIEL WEBSTER 



CAEL SCHUBZ 85 

to remain there. And what a life was his! A life so 
wholly devoted to what was good and noble! There he 
stood in the midst of the grasping materialism of his 
times, around him the eager chase for the almighty dollar, 
no thought of opportunity ever entering the smallest 
corner of his mind and disturbing his high endeavors; 
with a virtue which the possession of power could not 
even tempt, much less debauch, from whose presence 
the very thought of corruption instinctively shrunk 
back; a life so unspotted, an integrity so intact, a charac- 
ter so high, that the most daring eagerness of calumny, 
the most wanton audacity of insinuation, standing on 
tiptoe, could not touch the soles of his shoes. 

He is at rest now, the brave old champion, whose face 
and bearing were so austere, but whose heart was so 
full of tenderness; who began his career with a pathetic 
appeal for universal peace and charity, and whose whole 
life was an arduous, incessant, never-resting struggle, 
which left him all covered with scars. We can but 
remember his lofty ideals of liberty and equality and 
justice and reconciliation and purity, and the earnest- 
ness and courage and touching fidelity with which he 
fought for them — so genuine in his sincerity, so single- 
minded in his zeal, so heroic in his devotion. 

People of Massachusetts, he was the son of your soil 
in which he now sleeps, but he is not all your own; he 
belongs to all of us in the North and in the South, to the 
blacks he helped to make free, and to the whites he 
strove to make brothers again. On the grave of him 
whom so many thought to be their enemy and found to 
be their friend, let the hands be clasped which so bit- 
terly warred against each other. Upon that grave let 
the youth of America be taught, by the story of his life, 
that not only genius, power, and success; but, more than 



86 AMEEICAXIZATIOX 

these, patriotic devotion and virtue, make the greatness 
of the citizen. If this lesson be understood, more than 
Charles Sumner's living word could have done for the 
glory of America, will be done, by his great example; 
and it may truly be said that although his body lies in 
the earth, yet in the assured rights of all, in the brother- 
hood of a reunited people, and in a purified Republic, he 
still lives and will live forever. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Name other great Americans who labored long and earn- 
estly to have slavery abolished throughout the United States. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN* 
Ralph Waldo Emerson 

President Lincoln stood before us as a man of the 
people. He was thoroughly American, had never 
crossed the sea, had never been spoiled by English 
insularity or French dissipation; a jquite native, aborig- 
inal man, as an acorn from the oak; no aping of foreigners, 
no frivolous accomplishments, Kentuckian born, working 
on a farm, a flatboatman, a captain in the Black Hawk 
War, a country lawyer, a representative in the rural 
legislature of Illinois — on such modest foundations the 
broad structure of his fame was laid. How slowly, and 
yet by happily prepared steps, he came to his place. 

A plain man of the people, he offered no shining quali- 
ties at the first encounter; he did not offend by superior- 
ity. He had a face and manner which disarmed sus- 
picion, which inspired confidence, which confirmed good- 
will. Then, he had what farmers call a long head; was 

*From a speech delivered at Concord, Mass. 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



Brady 



EALPH WALDO EMEESON" 89 

excellent in working out the sum for himself; in arguing 
his case and convincing you fairly and firmly. He was a 
great worker; had prodigious faculty of performance; 
worked easily. A good worker is so rare; everybody has 
some disabling quality. In a host of young men that 
start together and promise so many brilliant leaders 
for the next age, each fails on trial; one by bad health, 
one by conceit, or by love of pleasure, or lethargy, or an 
ugly temper — each has some disqualifying fault that 
throws him out of the career. But this man was sound 
to the core, cheerful, persistent, all right for labor, and 
liked nothing so well. 

Then, he had a vast good-nature, which made him 
tolerant and accessible to all; fair-minded, leaning to the 
claim of the petitioner; affable, and not sensible to the 
affliction which the innumerable visits paid to him 
when President would have brought to any one else. 

Then, what an occasion was the whirlwind of the war. 
Here was place for no holiday magistrate, no fair- 
weather sailor; the new pilot was hurried to the helm in 
a tornado. In four years — four years of battle days — 
his ndurance, his fertility of resources, his magnanimity, 
were sorely tried and never found wanting. There by 
his courage, his justice, his even temper, his fertile 
counsel, his humanity, he stood a heroic figure in the 
centre of a heroic epoch. He is the true history of the 
American people of his time. Step by step he walked 
before them; slow with their slowness, quickening his 
march by theirs, the true representative of this continent; 
an entirely public man; father of his country, the pulse 
of twenty millions throbbing in his heart, the thought 
of their minds articulated by his tongue. 



90 AMERICANIZATION 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What was Lincoln's attitude toward the South? Name 
instances showing his sympathy, his innate kindness of heart. 

LINCOLN, THE MAN OF DESTINY* 
Henry Watterson 

From Caeser to Bismarck and Gladstone the world 
has had its statesmen and its soldiers — men who rose to 
eminence and power step by step, through a series of 
geometric progression, as it were, each advancement 
following in regular order one after the other, the whole 
obedient to well-established and well-understood laws 
of cause and effect. They were not what we call "men 
of destiny." They were "men of the time." They 
were men whose careers had a beginning, a middle, and 
an end, rounding off lives with histories, full it may be of 
interesting and exciting events, but comprehensive and 
comprehensible, simple, clear, complete. 

The inspired ones are fewer. Whence their emana- 
tion, where and how they got their power, by what rule 
they lived, moved, and had their being, we know not. 
There is no explication of their lives. They rose from 
shadow and they went in mist. We see them, feel them, 
but w r e know them not. They came, God's word upon 
their lips; they did their office, God's mantle about them; 
and they vanished, God's memory, half mortal and half 
myth. From first to last they were the creations of 
some special Providence, baffling the wit of man to 
fathom, defeating the machinations of the world, the 
flesh and the devil, until their work was done, then pass- 

*From the oration on Lincoln, first delivered before the Lincoln 
Union at the Auditorium, Chicago, February 12. 1895. By courtesy 
of the author. 






HENRY WATTEESOjNT 91 

ing from the scene as mysteriously as they had come 
upon it. 

Tried by this standard, where*shall we find an example 
so impressive as Abraham Lincoln? Born as lowly as 
the Son of God, in a hovel; reared in penury, squalor, 
with no gleam of light or fair surrounding; without 
graces, actual or acquired; without name or fame or 
official training; it was reserved for this strange being, 
late in life, to be snatched from obscurity, raised to 
supreme command at a supreme moment, and intrusted 
with the destiny of a nation. 

The great leaders of his party, the most experienced 
and accomplished public men of the day, were made to 
stand aside, were sent to the rear, whilst this fantastic 
figure was led by unseen hands to the front and given the 
reins of power. It is immaterial whether we were for 
him or against him; wholly immaterial. That during 
four years, carrying with them such a weight of responsi- 
bility as the world never witnessed before, he filled the 
vast space allotted him in the eyes and actions of man- 
kind, is to say that he was inspired of God, for nowhere 
else could he have acquired the wisdom and the virtue. 

Where did Shakespeare get his genius? Where did 
Mozart get his music? Whose hand smote the lyre of 
the Scottish plowman, and stayed the life of the German 
priest? God, and God alone; and as surely as these 
were raised up by God, inspired by God, was Abraham 
Lincoln; and a thousand years hence, no drama, no 
tragedy, no epic poem, will be filled with greater wonder, 
or be followed by mankind with deeper feeling than that 
which tells the story of his life and death. 

Questions and ilxekcises 
1. Who was Bismarck? 2. Gladstone? 3. For what 



92 AMEBICANIZATION 

was Burns, the Scottish plowman, famous? 4. When and 
where did Luther the priest live? 



THE SPIRIT OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
Woodrow Wilson 

By popular subscription, the log-cabin birthplace of 
Lincoln, on a farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky, has been 
enclosed in an imposing granite memorial building as a 
gift to the nation. President Wilson, called upon to 
accept the memorial gave this impressive interpretation 
of it: 

No more significant memorial could have been pre- 
sented to the Nation than this which encloses the birth- 
place of Abraham Lincoln. It expresses so much of 
what is singular and noteworthy in the history of the 
country; it suggests so many of the things that we prize 
most highly in our life and in our system of government. 

How eloquent this little house within this shrine is of 
the vigor of democracy! There is nowhere in the land 
any home so remote, humble, that it may not contain 
the power of mind and heart and conscience to which 
nations yield and history submits its processes. 

I have come here to-day not to utter a eulogy on 
Lincoln; he stands in need of none, but to endeavor to 
interpret the meaning of this gift to the Nation of the 
place of his birth and origin. 

Is not this an altar upon which we may forever keep 
alive the vestal fire of democracy as upon a shrine at 
which some of the deepest and most sacred hopes of 
mankind may from age to age be rekindled? For these 
hopes must certainly be rekindled, and only those who 
live can rekindle them. 

The only stuff that can retain the life-giving heat is 



FEANKLIN H. LANE 93 

the stuff of living hearts. And the hopes of mankind 
cannot be kept alive by words merely, by constitutions 
and doctrines of right and codes of liberty. The object 
of democracy is to transmute these into the life and 
action of society, the self-denial and self-sacrifice of 
heroic men and women willing to make their lives an 
embodiment of right and service and enlightened purpose. 

The commands of democracy are as imperative as its 
privileges and opportunities are wide and generous. 
Its compulsion is upon us. It will be great, and lift a 
great light for the guidance of the nations only if we 
are great and carry that light high for the guidance of our 
own feet. 

We are not worthy to stand here unless we ourselves 
be in deed and in truth real democrats and servants of 
mankind, ready to give our very lives for the freedom 
and justice and spiritual exaltation of the great nation 
which shelters and nurtures us. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. What do you understand to be the meaning of the term, 
"democracy"? 2. Why is Lincoln called a democrat? 

LOOKING THROUGH LINCOLN'S EYES* 

Franklin K. Lane 

I never pass through Chicago without visiting the 
statute of Lincoln by St. Gaudens and standing before 
it for a moment uncovered. It is to me all that America 
is, physically and spiritually. I look at those long 
arms and long legs, large hands and feet, and I think 
that they represent the physical strength of this new 
country, its power and its youthful awkwardness. 

*In Current Opinion of April, 1920. Used by permission, 



94 AMEKICANIZATION" 

Then I look up at the head and see qualities which have 
made the American — the strong chin, the noble brow, 
those sober and steadfast eyes. They were the eyes 
of one who saw with sympathy and interpreted with 
common sense. They were the eyes of earnest idealism 
limited and checked by the possible and the practicable. 
They were the eyes of a truly humble spirit, whose 
ambition was not a love for power but a desire to be 
supremely useful. They were eyes of compassion and 
mercy and a deep understanding. They saw far more 
than they looked at. They believed in far more than 
they saw. They loved men not for what they were 
but for what they might become. They were patient 
eyes, eyes that could wait and wait and live on in the 
faith that right would win. They were eyes which 
challenged the nobler things in men and brought out 
the hidden largeness. They were humorous eyes that 
saw things in their true proportions and in their real 
relationships. They looked through cant and pretense 
and the great and little vanities of great and little men. 
They were the eyes of an unflinching courage and an 
unfaltering faith rising out of a sincere dependence 
upon the Master of the Universe. To believe in Lincoln 
is to learn to look through Lincoln's eyes. 

ROBERT E. LEE 
John W. Daniel 

At the bottom of true heroism is unselfishness. Its 
crowning expression is sacrifice. The world is suspicious 
of vaunted heroes; but when the true hero has come, how 
the hearts of men leap forth to greet him — how worship- 
fully we welcome God's noblest work — the strong, honest, 
fearless, upright man. 




ROBERT E. LEE 



JOHN W. DANIEL 97 

In Robert E. Lee was such a hero vouchsafed to us 
and to mankind, and whether we behold him declining 
command of the Federal Army to fight the battles and to 
share the miseries of his own people; proclaiming on the 
heights in front of Gettysburg that the fault of the 
disaster was his own; leading charges in the crisis of 
combat; walking under the yoke of conquest without a 
murmur of complaint; or refusing fortunes to go to 
Washington and Lee University to train the youth of his 
country in the path of duty — he is ever the same meek, 
grand, self-sacrificing spirit. As President of Washington 
College he exhibited qualities not less worthy and heroic 
than those displayed on the broad and open theater of 
conflict, when the eyes of nations watched his every 
action. In the calm repose of civic and domestic duties 
and in the trying routine of incessant tasks, he lived a 
life as high as when, day by day, he marshaled his thin 
and wasting lines. In the quiet walks of academic life 
far removed from "war or battle's sound," came into 
view the towering grandeur, the massive splendor, and 
the loving kindness of the character of General Lee, and 
the very sorrows that overhung his life seemed luminous 
with celestial hues. There he revealed in manifold 
gracious hospitalities, tender charities, and patient 
worthy counsels how deep and pure and inexhaustible 
were the fountains of his virtues. And loving hearts 
delight to recall, as loving lips will ever delight to tell, 
the thousand little things he did which sent forth lines 
of light to irradiate the gloom of the conquered land and 
to lift up the hopes and cheer the works of his people* 

Come we then to-day in loyal love to sanctify our 
memories, to purify our hopes, to make strong all good 
intent by communion with the spirit of him who, being 
dead, yet speaketh. Let us crown his tomb with the 



98 AMERICANIZATION 

oak, the emblem of his strength, and with the laurel, 
the emblem of his glory. And as we seem to gaze 
once more on him we loved and hailed as the chief, the 
tranquil face is clothed with heaven's light and the mute 
lips seem eloquent with the message that in life he spoke : 
" There is a true glory and a true honor; the glory of 
duty done, the honor of the integrity of principle." 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Was Lee justified in espousing the cause of his native 
State? 2. All things considered, which was the greater man, 
Lee or Grant? 

GENERAL GRANT 
William McKinley 

A great life never dies. Great deeds are imperishable; 
great names immortal. General Grant's services and 
character will continue undiminished in influence and 
advance in the estimation of mankind so long as liberty 
remains the cornerstone of free government and integrity 
of life the guaranty of good citizenship. 

Faithful and fearless as a volunteer soldier, intrepid 
and invincible as commander-in-chief of the armies of 
the union, calm and confident as president of a reunited 
and strengthened nation which his genius had been 
instrumental in achieving, he has our homage and that 
of the world; but brilliant as was his public character, 
we love him all the more for his home life and homely 
virtues. His individuality, his bearing and speech, his 
simple ways, had a flavor of rare and unique distinction, 
and his Americanism was so true and uncompromising 
that his name will stand for all time as the embodiment 
of liberty, loyalty, and national unity. 




ULYSSES S. GRANT 



WILLIAM McKINLEY 101 

Victorious in the work which under Divine Providence 
he was called upon to do; clothed with almost limitless 
power, he was yet one of the people — plain, patient, 
patriotic, and just. Success did not disturb the even 
balance of his mind, while fame was powerless to swerve 
him from the path of duty. Great as he was in war, 
he loved peace, and told the world that honorable arbi- 
tration of differences was the best hope of civilization. 

With Washington and Lincoln, Grant has an exalted 
place in history and the affections of the people. To-day 
his memory is held in equal esteem by those whom he led 
to victory and by those who accepted his generous terms 
of peace. The veteran leaders of the Blue and the Gray 
here meet not only to honor the name of the departed 
Grant, but to testify to the living reality of a fraternal 
national spirit which has triumphed over the differences 
of the past and transcends the limitations of sectional 
lines. 

It is right, then, that General Grant should have a 
memorial commensurate with his greatness, and that 
his last resting place should be the city of his choice, 
to which he was so attached in life and of whose ties he 
was not forgetful even in death. Fitting, too, is it that 
the great soldier should sleep beside the noble river on 
whose banks he first learned the art of war and of which 
he became master and leader without a rival. 

New York holds in its keeping the precious dust of the 
silent soldier; but his achievements- — what he and his 
brave comrades wrought for mankind — are in the keeping 
of all Americans, who will guard the sacred heritage 
forevermore. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. How did General Grant by his act of magnanimity do 
most to preserve the union? 



102 AMERICANIZATION 

"STONEWALL" JACKSON 
Moses D. Hoge 

The day after the first battle of Manassas, and before 
the history of that victory had reached Lexington in 
authentic form, a crowd had gathered around the post- 
office awaiting with interest the opening of the mail. 
In its distribution the first letter was handed to the 
Rev. Dr. White. Recognizing at a glance the well-known 
superscription, the doctor exclaimed to those around him, 
"Now we shall know all the facts." 

The letter was from General Jackson; but instead of 
a war bulletin, it was a simple note, inclosing a check for a 
colored Sunday-school, with an apology for his delay in 
not sending it before. Not a word about the conflict 
which had electrified a nation! Not an allusion to the 
splendid part he had taken in it; not a reference to him- 
self, beyond the fact that it had been to him a fatiguing 
day's service! And yet that was the day ever memorable 
in his history, when he received the name of "Stonewall" 
Jackson. 

When his brigade of twenty-six hundred men had for 
hours withstood the iron tempest which broke upon it; 
when the Confederate right had been overwhelmed in the 
rush of resistless numbers, General Bee rode up to Jack- 
son, and, with despairing bitterness, exclaimed, "General, 
they are beating us back!" "Then," said Jackson, calm 
and curt, "we will give them the bayonet." Bee seemed 
to catch the inspiration of his determined will; and 
galloping back to the broken fragments of his overtaxed 
command, exclaimed, "There is Jackson, standing 
like a stone wall. Rally behind him, Virginians !" From 
that time Jackson's was known as the Stonewall Brigade 
—a name henceforth immortal, for the christening was 



Vf i 




STONEWALL JACKSON 



MOSES D. HOGE 105 

baptized in the blood of its author; and that wall of 
brave hearts was, on every battlefield, a steadfast bul- 
wark of their country. 

In the state where all that is mortal of this great hero 
sleeps, there is a natural bridge of rock, whose massive 
arch, fashioned in grandeur by the hand of God, springs 
lightly toward the sky, spanning a chasm into whose 
awful depths the beholder looks down bewildered and 
awe-struck. But its grandeur is not diminished because 
tender vines clamber over its gigantic piers and sweet- 
scented flowers nestle in its crevices. Nor is the granite 
strength of Jackson's character weakened because in 
every throb of his heart there was a pulsation ineffably 
and exquisitely tender. The hum of bees, the fragrance 
of clover fields, the tender streaks of dawn, the dewy 
brightness of early spring, the mellow glories of matured 
autumn, all by turns charmed and tranquillized him. 
The eye that flashed amid the smoke of battle grew soft 
in contemplating the beauty of a flower. The ear that 
thrilled with the thunder of the cannonade drank in with 
innocent delight the song of birds and the prattle of 
children's voices. The voice whose sharp and ringing 
tones had so often uttered the command, "Give them 
the bayonet/' called even from foreign tongues terms of 
endearment for those he loved; and the man who filled 
two hemispheres with his fame was never so happy as 
when he was telling the colored children of his Sabbath 
school the story of the Cross. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Can you cite examples of men prominent in public life 
to-day who either resemble or contrast sharply with the char- 
acter of Andrew Jackson? 2. Point out the effectiveness of the 
antithesis contained in the last paragraph. 



106 AMEKICANIZATION 

THE TYPICAL AMERICAN* 
Henry W. Grady 

We hear a great deal said, particularly each year 
when the New England societies meet, about the vir- 
tues of the Puritans; but we should not forget the fact 
that the Cavalier as well as the Puritan was on the 
continent in its early days, and that he was "up and 
able to be about." 

Let me remind you that the Virginia Cavalier first 
challenged France on this Continent; that Cavalier 
John Smith gave New England its very name, and was 
so pleased with the job that he has been handing his own 
name around ever since; and that while Miles Standish 
was cutting off men's ears for courting a girl without her 
parent's consent, and forbade men to kiss their wives on 
Sunday, the Cavalier was courting everything in sight. 

But having said this much for the Cavalier, we let 
him work out his own salvation, as he has always done 
with engaging gallantry, and we hold no controversy as 
to his merits. Why should we? Neither Puritan or 
Cavalier long survived as such. The virtues and tradi- 
tions of both happily still live for the inspiration of their 
sons and the saving of the old fashion. But both Puritan 
and Cavalier were lost in the storm of the first revolu- 
tion; and the American citizen, supplanting both and 
stronger than either, took possession of the Republic, 
bought by their common blood and fashioned to wis- 
dom, and charged himself with teaching men govern- 

*Taken from the speech that first brought him national fame as 
an orator. Delivered at a dinner of the New England Society - 
New York City, December 21, 1886. 

From The Orations and Speeches of Henry W. Grady, by 
E. D. Shurter. Used by permission. 



E. D. SHUKTER 107 

ment and establishing the voice of the people as the 
voice of God. 

It has been said that the typical American has yet to 
come. Let me tell you that he has already come. 
Great types, like valuable plants, are slow to flower and 
fruit. But from the union of these colonists, Puritans 
and Cavaliers, from the straightening of their purposes 
and the crossing of their blood, slow perfecting through 
a century, came he who stands as the first typical Ameri- 
can, the first who comprehended within himself all the 
strength and gentleness, all the majesty and grandeur 
of this republic — Abraham Lincoln. He was the sum of 
Puritan and Cavalier, for in his ardent nature we fused 
the virtues of both, and in the depth of his great soul 
the faults of both were lost. He was greater than 
Puritan, greater than Cavalier, in that he was American; 
and that in his homely form were first gathered the vast 
and thrilling forces of his ideal government; charging 
it with such tremendous meaning and so elevating it 
above human sufferings, that martyrdom though 
infamously aimed, came as a fitting crown to a life 
consecrated from the cradle to human liberty. 

Let us, each cherishing the traditions and honoring 
his fathers, build with reverent hands to the type of this 
simple but sublime life in which all types are honored; 
and in our common glory as Americans there will be 
plenty and to spare for Puritan and Cavalier. 

THE POTENCY OF ROOSEVELT'S SPIRIT 
E. D. Shurtek* 

At midnight on the fifth day of January, 1919, Theo- 
dore Roosevelt wrote a memorandum for the Chairman 

* Adapted 



108 AMERICANIZATION 

of the Republican National Committee. Four hours 
later, quietly in his sleep, the man of many battles and 
much tumult slipped out of the company of living men; 
but with new potency his spirit cried to the hearts of his 
countrymen. 

If Lincoln was the " First American/ ' Roosevelt was 
the first American of the past generation, and he wields 
to-day an influence far greater than that of any other 
character in America's history. What was the secret 
of his power? 

"He was found faithful over a few things and he was 
made ruler over many; he cut his own trail clean and 
straight and millions followed him toward the light. 
He was frail; he made himself a tower of strength. 
He was timid; he made himself a lion of courage. He 
was a dreamer; he became one of the great doers of all 
time. Men put their trust in him; found a champion in 
him; kings stood in awe of him, but children made him 
their playmate. He broke a nation's slumber with his 
cry, and it rose up. He touched the eyes of blind men 
with a flame that gave them vision. Souls became 
swords through him; swords became servants of God. 
He was loyal to his country and he exacted loyalty; he 
loved many lands, but he loved his own best. He was 
terrible in battle, but tender to the weak; joyous and tire- 
less, being free from self-pity; clean with a cleanness 
that cleansed the air like a gale. His courtesy knew 
no wealth, no class; his friendship, no creed or color or 
race. His courage stood every onslaught of savage beast 
and ruthless man, of loneliness, of victory, of defeat. 
His mind was eager, his heart was true, his body and 
spirit, defiant of obstacles, ready to meet what might 
come. He fought injustice and tyranny; bore sorrow 
gallantly; loved all nature, bleak spaces and hardy com- 



ALBEET BUSHNELL HAET 109 

panions, hazardous adventure and the zest of battle. 
Wherever he went he carried his own pack; and in the 
uttermost parts of the earth he kept his conscience for 
his guide.' ' 

Above all, he exemplified by word and deed the spirit 
of an Americanism that will guide aright all true Ameri- 
cans of this generation, and another and another. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What are some of the great things that Theodore Roose- 
velt did? 2. Roosevelt was a graduate of Harvard College. 
What other presidents were college men? 

THEODORE ROOSEVELT 
AS A VITAL FORCE* 
Albert Bushnell Hart 

His place was in the seats of the mighty. No man of 
his time so breathed in the breath of life and so exhaled 
the spirit of power. His was a full heart and a rich 
existence, for there were as many Theodore Roosevelts 
as years of his life. It was in his bountiful nature to find 
himself at one with all sorts and conditions of men. 
He was at home in the palace of kings — in those old days 
when kings were fashionable — and equally in the cabin 
of the frontier settler or a dugout on a tropical river. 
A multitude of men can testify that he seemed to them 
just their kind. Upon this side of Roosevelt's life, upon 
his ever fresh interest in his fellow men, posterity will 
love to dwell. Good stories will be told about him, as 
about Lincoln, concerning his adaptation to all sorts of 
odd environments. Those who knew him best will 

*Reprinted from The New York Times of January 12. 1919. By 
courtesy of the author. 



110 AMERICANIZATION 

most lovingly cherish his personality, as a man and a 
brother, his lovableness, and his warm affection. 

Beyond that personal side of the character and life 
of the man who has just left us is the massive figure of a 
statesman of worldwide reputation, a rock standing 
immovable amidst the waves, a far-sighted, broad- 
viewed, sagacious man, who knew how to gather up into 
his mind a variety of national problems and harmonize 
them into one decision. This is the time and place to 
consider the public side of his manifold life, to note how 
far he spoke for his countrymen, to discover to what 
degree he was a leader and an originator, and to point 
out his chief services to the United States of America. 

Like all men who are big enough to make their own 
paths in life, he upraised many critics and some enemies. 
All personal criticism falls away now that he is removed. 
His big, rugged honesty and sincerity, the uprightness of 
his public and private life, his genuine and passionate 
love for his country, nobody questions them! Yet in 
some directions there was always an undercurrent and 
sometimes a strong tide of protest against him. In cer- 
tain circles of conservative men of affairs Theodore 
Roosevelt was looked upon as a dangerous man; all his 
life long fighting against his own people. 

No public man in the history of the United States 
better illustrated the sound political sagacity of a public 
man doing what he thinks is right. If he once has the 
confidence of the people they will trust him even though 
they do not accept his full program, even though they 
think he has made some mistakes. 

No man is perfect in wisdom or in act. The last thing 
that Theodore Roosevelt's millions of admirers will claim 
for him is that he was an Olympian, free from the weak- 
nesses and prejudices of mankind. He was a man. He 




THEODORE ROOSEVELT 



ALBERT BITSHNELL HAET 113 

did a man's work. He had a brave and upright soul. 
His best service to his country, among all his benefits, 
was to base his action on high motives. Throughout his 
life he wanted to make the world better, and did what- 
ever came to his hand to do. 

As Police Commissioner, Civil Service Commissioner, 
as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Colonel of the Rough 
Riders, as Governor of New York, Vice-President and 
President, he felt himself the trustee of the people. 
Throughout his life he recognized the stern joy of duty 
and the delight of hitching his wagon to a star. His 
countrymen may well be proud of him, for he drew them 
to him by calling out their belief in high things. 

It was a terrible disappointment to him that, when the 
country needed every man of power, there was no place 
for him to serve. He said plaintively, "This war seems 
very exclusive." President Roosevelt, as he had oppor- 
tunity, called upon the strongest men that he could find; 
and could even put up with those who had not been 
very respectful to him. Ex-President Roosevelt — but 
that is now gone by! We realize that the body was no 
longer able to respond to the fearless spirit. We feel 
that in his death the country loses a mighty force for 
good. We know that his life and his achievements are 
inscribed in imperishable characters upon the history 
of the world and the affectionate memory of his country. 



PART FOUR 
INCENTIVES TO PATRIOTISM 



CIVIC CREEDS* 

In ancient Athens, the fathers taught their boys a 
pledge which, when the boys where about eighteen years 
of age, they publicly recited: 

"We will never bring disgrace to this city by any act 
of dishonesty or cowardice, nor ever desert our suffering 
comrades in the ranks. 

"We will fight for the ideals and sacred things of the 
city, both singly and together. We will revere and obey 
the city's laws, and do our best to incite a like respect 
and reverence in those above us who are prone to annul 
or set them at naught. 

"We will strive unceasingly to quicken the public 
sense of civic duty. Thus in all these ways we will 
transmit this city not only not less, but greater, better 
and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us." 

To-day it is as necessary that we pledge ourselves to 
keep alive the ideals of honor, truth, and right, of bravery 
and self-sacrifice as it was in the days of Athens the 
City-State. In those days the cities were small and the 
citizens themselves lived for the most part on their little 
farms amid their olives and their vines; to-day the 
tendency is toward crowding into the modern city with 
its narrow streets and its bad air, its tenements swarming 
with ill-nourished children whose only playground is the 
street. 

Farseeing students of our civic life see that our only 
hope for a citizenship as sturdy in mind and body as 

*Adapted from Edwin O. Grover's Creed. By permission of the 
author. 

117 



118 AMEEICANIZATION 

that which populated the United States in revolutionary 
days lies with the countrybred boy and girl. It is the 
country boy's creed which to-day voices the most whole- 
some spirit of to-day. This creed, so beautifully 
expressed by Edwin Osgood Grover, breathes forth that 
love of the land itself which is the vital spark of true 
patriotism. In it he says: 

"I believe that the country which God made is more 
beautiful than the city which man made; that life out 
of doors and in touch with the earth is the natural life 
of man. I believe that work is work wherever we find 
it, but that work with nature is more inspiring than 
work with the most intricate machinery. I believe that 
the dignity of labor depends not on what you do, but 
on how you do it; that opportunity comes to a boy on 
the farm as often as to a boy in the city, that life is 
larger and freer and happier on the farm than in the 
town; that my success depends not on my location, but 
upon myself — not upon my dreams, but upon what I 
actually do; not upon luck, but upon pluck. I believe 
in working when you work — and in playing when you 
play, and in giving and demanding a square deal in 
every act of life." 

Questions and Exercises 
1. How can a citizen best serve his city and state? 2. Do 
vou think that "life is larger and freer and happier on a farm than 
in a town"? Why? 

I AM AN AMERICAN* 

I was a pilgrim seeking a place. I was a Catholic in 
quest of freedom for my faith. I was a Protestant flee- 

*Adapted from The Rotarian. By permission. 



"THE ROTABIAN" 119 

ing a persecution I could no longer bear. I w&s a Jew, 
an outcast, carrying the burden of centuries of unrepose. 
I was a political Zero with no function to serve. I was 
a Mind, kept unschooled lest knowledge set me free. 
I was a Man, made in the image of my Creator as other 
men are, but bending low before the power of a fellow 
man. 

And so I left the land of my fathers to begin again in 
a strange, wild land. I came to America. 

I did not come to build castles. These were the badge 
of kings who said that God had appointed them to be 
keepers of the riches I produce. It was enough for me 
that I should live, .they said. I did not believe that. I 
began to build a new free home in the wilderness. 
Patiently I induced, compelled, the entrained soil to 
share its bounty. I contended with wild men. In 
seventy-six I fought and bled to hold the winnings so 
hardly earned. In the sixties I fought and bled again 
to free myself of Old World wrongs and keep the new 
Nation whole. 

Thus I made America. 

And America made me — a new man, still a Protestant, 
still a Catholic, still a Jew, but first an American. No 
longer a nonentity but a man bending only in the volun- 
tary service of mankind. America has given me Oppor- 
tunity, the golden wand which has transformed me from 
a chattel to the peer of any man on earth. 

Am I great enough, strong enough to keep what I 
have made? Have I builded better than I knew? Do I 
realize, now, that America contains the inspiration and 
the purifying principle for the world? Does American 
Liberty mean anything in particular to me? Is it more 
than a mere nation of people, conceived in the freedom 
loving thought of a hundred nations, builded of human 



120 AMERICANIZATION 

desperation and kept whole by the will and determina- 
tion of noble incentive? Will I earnestly work, willingly 
give, and gladly sacrifice to save my America and thereby 
save the world? 

Yes, I will. And why? Because — 

/ am an American. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Why are castles the badge of kings? 2. Why are you 
an American? 

AM I A GOOD CITIZEN?* 

Meredith Nicholson 

"Keep out of politics!" is a warning given constantly 
to young men who show an inclination to interest them- 
selves in public affairs. The civic standard is low in any 
community where a reputable citizen who seeks office 
encounters suspicion, reproach, or obloquy. The full 
powers confided to the people presuppose the participa- 
tion of all citizens in the business of government. 

Every citizen is "in" politics. The Constitution of the 
United States puts him there, and his conscience grants 
no exemptions. 

I have heard men boast that they never perform jury 
service, or that they have a "pull" that gains them some 
other immunity. A corruptible public official finds his 
job unprofitable unless he is able to enter into partner- 
ship with another bad citizen. 

If I am more concerned with my privileges and 
immunities than with my duties, I am skidding; I am 
on the way to becoming a bad citizen. If I neglect to 

*Republished by permission of the International Magazine Com- 
pany (Cosmopolitan Magazine). Copyright 1920. 



MEBEDITH NICHOLSON 121 

vote because it is inconvenient to meet that obligation, 
or I assume that my neighbors will protect me with their 
ballots, I am a dodger and a slacker. 

Blind confidence in government by good luck is bound 
to bring disaster. The constant vigilance and intelligent 
action of all the people is essential to enlightened, cap- 
able government. 

Am I a good citizen? is the first question in the Ameri- 
can catechism. Government is a complex business, but 
citizenship may be reduced to three essentials: under- 
standing, loyalty, and service. 

This morning I saw a boy scout walk to the middle 
of the street, pick up a piece of paper, and deposit it in 
the litter-box at the next corner. He didn't have to do 
that; it was my business quite as much as his. That lad 
exemplified the good citizenship that is always on the 
job. 

In the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem, every man 
labored "over against his house.' 1 In like manner, an 
American citizen's duty to his country is immediate 
and personal, and lies at his own door. 

When I say to myself, "I hold an inalienable partner- 
ship in this nation; its prosperity and happiness rest 
with me," then I have caught the spirit of true Ameri- 
canism. Then indeed I am a worthy citizen of this 
mighty republic and a contributor to the forces that make 
for its perpetuity. 

THE IDEAL REPUBLIC* 
William J. Bryan 

For more than a century this nation has been a world 

*From his reply to the Notification Committee, August 8, 1900. 
By courtesy of the author. 



122 AMERICANIZATION 

power. For ten decades it has been the most potent 
influence in the world. Not only has it been a world 
power but it has done more to affect the politics of the 
human race than all the other nations of the world com- 
bined. Because our Declaration of Independence was 
promulgated, others have be'en promulgated. Because 
the patriots of 1776 fought for liberty, others have 
fought for it; because our Constitution was adopted, 
other constitutions have been adopted. The growth of 
the principle of self-government, planted on American 
soil, has been the overshadowing political fact of the 
nineteenth century. It has made this nation conspicuous 
among the nations and given it a place in history such 
as no other nation has ever enjoyed. Nothing has been 
able to check the onward march of this idea. I am not 
willing that this nation shall cast aside the omnipotent 
weapon of truth to seize again the weapon of physical 
warfare. I would not exchange the glory of this Repub- 
lic for the glory of all the empires that have risen and 
fallen since time began. 

I can conceive of a national destiny surpassing the 
glories of the present and the past — a destiny which 
meets the responsibilities of to-day and measures up to 
the possibilities of the future. Behold a Republic resting 
securely upon the foundation stones quarried by revolu- 
tionary patriots from the mountain of eternal truth, a 
Republic applying in practice and proclaiming to the 
world the self-evident proposition that all men are 
created equal; that they are endowed with inalienable 
rights; that governments are instituted among men to 
secure these rights, and that governments derive their 
just powers from the consent of the governed. Behold 
a Republic in which civil and religious liberty stimulates 
all to earnest endeavors and in which the law restrains 



WILLIAM McANDEEW 123 

every hand uplifted for a neighbor's injury — a Republic 
in which every citizen is a sovereign, but in which no 
one cares to wear a crown. Behold a Republic standing 
erect while empires all around are bowed beneath the 
weight of their own armaments — a Republic whose flag 
is loved while other flags are only feared. Behold a 
Republic increasing in population, in wealth, in strength 
and in influence, solving the problems of civilization 
and hastening the coming of an universal brotherhood — 
a Republic which shakes thrones and dissolves aristocra- 
cies by its silent example and gives light and inspiration 
to those who sit in darkness. Behold a Republic gradu- 
ally, but surely, becoming the supreme moral factor in 
the world's progress and the accepted arbiter of the 
world's disputes — a Republic whose history, like the 
path of the just, 4s as the shining light that shineth 
more and more unto the perfect day." 

Questions and Answers 

1. Do you agree with the author's conception of an ideal 
republic? 2. How does Mr. Bryan differ from President 
Wilson in regard to international relations? 

WHY DOES THE NATION PAY 

FOR THE SCHOOLS? 

William McAndrew 

Every minute of every school day costs money. Who 
pays it? If you should trace the dollars that are spent 
for buildings, books and teaching, you would find them 
coming from the public taxes. But everybody pays the 
taxes. The buyer of a coat, a shoe, a loaf of bread, pays 
something more for it because the storekeeper must pay 
his rent. His rent costs him something more because 



124 AMERICANIZATION 

the owner of the property must pay the taxes. You may 
readily see that the whole community, those who own 
no property, and those who own any, pay for the schools. 

It is not your father, alone, who paid for your school- 
ing, your uncle, your neighbor, those who know you and 
those who never saw you, are taxed to provide the 
money that educates you. Why? Because the people 
of America decided that they would govern themselves 
and that as a people, united in a government, they would 
educate the growing generation in the principles which 
distinguish the American government from the autocra- 
cies of the old world. 

There was education before there was an American 
Republic. There were schools before the Revolution of 
'Seventy-Six. What was their purpose? Was it not to 
sell to their customers a distinction, a power, an accom- 
plishment by which each educated person might get on 
in the world and rise above the common herd? But 
this was not what Washington and Franklin, Adams and 
Jefferson, and those other founders of free public schools 
in America, set as the purpose. No such aim can justify 
taxation of all the people to maintain a school system. 

By no means. 

The American public school is not for the selfish 
advantage of each separate boy and girl; it is not to lift 
them above their fellows. The public school is for the 
general welfare; to produce citizens who will serve the 
community in peace as well as in war, who will give their 
time and their money to public benefit, who will serve 
on town committees, who will make sacrifices to accept 
public office, who will keep well informed upon the public 
needs and who will create unselfishness and patriotic 
public opinion. 

These are facts the schools must teach. These are 



THEODOEE EOOSEVELT 125 

duties the output of the schools must perform. Other- 
wise the original purpose of the American public schools 
is lost. 

Questions and Exercises 
Give further facts and examples to show (1) why the state is 
justified in taxing the childless rich man for the support of the 
public schools, and (2) what the state may properly expect of 
you in the way of public service. 

A CHARTER OF DEMOCRACY* 

Theodore Roosevelt 

We believe in pure democracy. With Lincoln, we hold 
that "this country, with its institutions, belongs to the 
people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary 
of the existing government, they can exercise their 
constitutional right of amending it." We believe that 
the people have the right, the power, and the duty to 
protect themselves and their own welfare; that human 
rights are supreme over all other rights; that wealth 
should be the servant, not the master, of the people. 
We believe that unless representative government does 
absolutely represent the people it is not representative 
government at all. We test the worth of all men and all 
measures by asking how they contribute to the welfare 
of the men, women, and children of whom this nation 
is composed. We are engaged in one of the great battles 
of the age-long contest waged against privilege on behalf 
of the common welfare. 

This country, as Lincoln said, belongs to the people. 
So do the natural resources which make it rich. They 
supply the basis of our prosperity now and hereafter. 
In preserving them, which is a national duty, we must 

*From a speech before the Ohio Constitutional Convention, 
February, 1912. 



126 AMERICANIZATION 

not forget that monopoly is based on the control of 
natural resources and natural advantages, and that it 
will help the people little to conserve our natural wealth 
unless the benefits which it can yield are secured to the 
people. Let us remember, also, that conservation does 
not stop with the natural resources, but that the prin- 
ciple of making the best use of all we have requires with 
equal or greater insistence that we shall stop the waste 
of human life in industry and prevent the waste of human 
welfare which flows from the unfair use of concentrated 
power and wealth in the hands of men whose eagerness 
for profit blinds them to the cost of what they do. We 
have no higher duty than to promote the efficiency of the 
individual. There is no surer road to the efficiency of 
the nation. 

All constitutions, those of the States no less than that 
of the nation, are designed, and must be interpreted and 
administered so as to fit human rights. Lincoln so inter- 
preted and administered the National Constitution. 
Buchanan attempted the reverse, attempted to fit human 
rights to, and limit them by, the Constitution. It was 
Buchanan who treated the courts as a fetish, who pro- 
tested against and condemned all criticism of the judges 
for unjust and unrighteous decisions, and upheld the 
Constitution as an instrument for the protection of 
privilege and of vested wrong. It was Lincoln who 
appealed to the people against the judges when the 
judges went wrong, who advocated and secured what 
was practically the recall of the Dred Scott decision, 
and who treated the Constitution as a living force for 
righteousness. We stand for applying the Constitution 
to the issues of to-day as Lincoln applied it to the issues 
of his day; Lincoln, mind you, and not Buchanan, was 
the real upholder and preserver of the Constitution, for 



BLISS PEERY 127 

the true progressive, the progressive of the Lincoln 
stamp, is the only true constitutionalist, the only real 
conservative. The object of every American Constitu- 
tion worth calling such must be what is set forth to be 
in the preamble of the National Constitution, "to estab- 
lish justice/' that is, to secure justice as between man 
and man by means of genuine popular self-government. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. What is a "pure democracy"? 2. Who was James 
Buchanan? 

INTERNATIONAL PATRIOTISM* 

Bliss Perry 

The unpatriotic man is not the internationalist; he is 
the citizen of any country who does not care what is 
going on beyond his own village so long as his own dinner 
pail is full. If he is an American, what makes* him 
unpatriotic is not that he holds this or that view in 
regard to this or that policy; what makes him unpatriotic 
is the belief that the good father at Washington will 
attend to all that and it is not any business of his. 

The visionaries are the men who can see nothing in the 
world except the chariots and the horses and the future 
campaigns. The visionaries are the men who have for- 
gotten their multiplication tables, and forgotten history, 
and ignored human nature, and believe that it is safe to 
play with fire, who under the pretense of taking no 
chances are making chances; who are doing as they did 
in Melrose the other day — piling dynamite on a wagon, 
and then giving the wagon to a boy to drive. Those, I 
say, are the unpractical men. The advocates of peace 

*Used by courtesy of the author. 



128 AMERICANIZATION" 

have with a clear vision, with steady forethought and 
purpose, been building a strait road for the nations of the 
world to walk in, and that road can be seen by every 
man. 

Our foreign friends in making the acquaintance of 
other Boston institutions should not fail to take notice 
of the Boston policeman. 

He is one of the finest specimens of his profession; he 
speaks softly and he carries his "big stick" — in his 
pocket. He is patient, he is respectful, he is self- 
respecting. Now when the white-gloved hand of a 
policeman on one of our dangerous narrow crossings is 
raised, the whirling electric car and the murderous 
automobile and the laden dray stop, so that our women 
and children may go safely over. We respect the police- 
man, not because he is the embodiment of arbitrary, 
despotic force, but because he represents the peace senti- 
ment of the citizens of Boston. Now we advocates of 
peace are not impractical enough to believe that the 
time has yet come when we need no police at the world's 
cross roads. We do need policemen in Armenia and in 
the Congo Free State; but we ask that they shall not be 
sent there by greedy powers or through the chivalry 
of a single nation. We ask that they shall stand there 
as the embodiment of international law, and backed by 
international public opinion. 

We have used the Boston policeman as a type; let us 
use the Boston subway as an allegory. A few years ago 
Tremont Street was in a state of hopeless confusion — 
turmoil, blockade, warfare, nothing less. One day some 
one began a quarter of a mile away from Tremont Street 
to dig a hole in the ground. He had the subway in his 
mind — and to-day men are carried from the suburbs of 
the city to the heart of the city by a swift and safe and 



LYMAN ABBOTT 129 

pleasant course. Now when you return to your homes 
you will be able to tell your friends that you have been 
riding in the Boston subway, and you can also say that 
you have been helping yourself to dig a bigger and a 
better subway than that, namely, the road that leads 
straight from heart to heart of the great nations of the 
world — the road of goodwill. It is hard to do that kind 
of digging year in and year out. There is the solid rock 
of opposition still to be blasted. But we must remember 
that all the poetry does not belong to the men of war. 
We must praise this road that we are building against 
the shifting sands of popular sentiment, drifting, chang- 
ing with the hour. But the road has already been marked, 
and the proceedings of the last five days have given 
another yard or another hundred yards to it; and those 
forward steps once taken can never be retraced. We 
have no right to say, in those solemn words that Tolstoy 
prints at the head of his pamphlet, "This is your hour, 
and the power of darkness," Perhaps we have not yet 
won the right to say, "This is our hour, and the power 
of right," but we can at least say with St. Paul, "Breth- 
ren, now is our salvation nearer than when we first 
believed." 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Where is Armenia? How is it governed? 2. Who 
owns the Congo district? Who was Tolstoy? 

THE LAW OF SERVICE* 

Lyman Abbott 

Service is the law of life. There is no such thing as 
independence. For the coffee that you drank this morn- 

*Extract from the Baccalaureate Sermon at the University of 
Texas, June 17, 1900. Used by courtesy of the author. 



130 AMERICANIZATION 

ing at breakfast the berries were probably picked in 
Mexico or in South America; then they were brought 
here by the steamship or the railroads, then handled by 
the merchant and then prepared for the table. Some 
one raised the wheat in Minnesota, some one else ground 
it in Minneapolis, some one else brought it here, some 
one else cooked it. How many men were employed 
simply in getting for us our breakfast! We are depen- 
dent not only on the present, but on all the past. How 
many broken hearts, how many disappointed ambitions, 
how many abandoned hopes before the locomotive was 
perfected which may take you to your homes to-morrow! 
Can you go to the grave and pay the dead? Can you 
pay for what the past has done for you? You can only 
pass on to the future some service in acknowledgment 
of that which the past has rendered you. 

There are only four ways in which a man can get any- 
thing in this world. He can make it by his own indus- 
try; he can receive it as a gift; he can filch it from some- 
body else; he can contrive to take it out of the common 
stock which God meant for his children. Now, of these 
four ways there is only one way that is honest and self- 
respecting for a man with bodily vigor and intellectual 
ability, and that is to make it by his honest industry. 

In Cuba seven hundred men, women and children 
died each week before General Wood established an 
order requiring the citizens to clean house. They did 
not want to do so, but they were compelled, and as a 
result of the cleaning the mortality has been reduced 
from seven hundred to fifty or sixty per week. Six hun- 
dred and forty died every week before their time because 
the citizens did not wish cleanliness. But it was just 
to compel them to do what they did not consent to do, 



WOODEOW WILSON . 131 

and so save the lives of six hundred and forty without 
the consent of the governed. 

This which is the law for the regulation of the nation 
in its international relations is the law for its regulation 
within itself; by it must be determined all questions of 
local administration. Mr. Croker, upon the witness 
stand in New York, is asked the question, "Mr. Croker, 
you are in politics for what you can get out of it?" and 
replies, "Yes, sir; all day, and every day in the week." 
This is the answer of a boss. Men say, we must have 
leaders in politics. Certainly we must. But what we 
must have, is not a man who is in politics for what he 
can get out of it all day and every day in the week; he is 
not a leader, he is a boss. The leader walks in front of 
the procession and the others follow voluntarily, the 
boss walks behind with the whip. Leadership and boss- 
ism are absolutely inconsistent. I call on you solemnly 
to swear before God and your flag that so far as you t can 
help it there shall never be in your country a government 
of the boss, by the boss, and for the boss, but that it 
shall be a government of the people, by the people, and 
for the people. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. What does Dr. Abbott mean when he says that "Service 
is the law of life"? 2. Why are leadership and bossism incon- 
sistent? 

AMERICA A WORLD POWER* 

Woodrow Wilson 
America may be said to have just received her majority 
as a world power. It was almost exactly twenty-one 

The concluding part of a speech before the Senate, July 10, 
1919. 



132 AMEEICASTIZATION 

years ago that the results of the war with Spain put us 
unexpectedly in possession of rich islands on the other 
side of the world and brought us into association with 
other governments in the control of the West Indies. 
It was regarded as a sinister and ominous thing by the 
statesmen of more than one European chancellory that 
we should have extended our power beyond the con- 
fines of our continental dominions. They were accus- 
tomed to think of new neighbors as a new menace, of 
rivals as* watchful enemies. There were persons among 
us at home who looked with deep disapproval and 
avowed anxiety on such extensions of our national 
authority over distant islands and over peoples whom 
they feared we might exploit, not serve and assist. 
But we have not exploited them. We have been their 
friends and have sought to serve them. And our domin- 
ion has been a menace to no other nation. We redeemed 
our honor to the utmost in our dealings with Cuba. 
She is weak, but absolutely free; and it is her trust in us 
that makes her free. Weak peoples everywhere stand 
ready to give us any authority among them that will 
assure them a like friendly oversight and direction. 
They know that there is no ground for fear in receiving 
us as their mentors and guides. 

Our isolation was ended twenty years ago; and now 
fear of us is ended also, our counsel and association 
sought after and desired. There can be no question 
of our increasing to be a world power. The only question 
is whether we can refuse the moral leadership that is 
offered us, whether we shall accept or reject the confi- 
dence of the world. 

The war and the conference of peace now sitting in 
Paris seem to me to have answered that question. Our 
participation in the war established our position among 



WOODEOW WILSON 133 

the nations, and nothing but our own mistaken action 
can alter it. It was not an accident or a matter of sud- 
den choice that we are no longer isolated and devoted 
to a policy which has only our own interest and advan- 
tage for its object. It was our duty to go in, if we were 
indeed the champions of liberty and of right. 

We answered to the call of duty in a way so spirited, 
so utterly without thought of what we spent of blood or 
treasure, so effective, so worthy of the admiration of 
true men everywhere, so wrought out of the stuff of all 
that was heroic, that the whole world saw at last, in the 
flesh, in noble action, a great ideal asserted and vindi- 
cated, by a nation they had deemed material and now 
found to be compact of the spiritual forces that free men 
of every nation from every unworthy bondage. It is 
thus that a new role and a new responsibility have come 
to this great nation that we honor and which we would 
all wash to lift to yet higher levels and service and achieve- 
ment. 

The stage is set, the destiny disclosed. It has come 
about by no plan of our conceiving, but by the hand of 
God, who Jed us into this way. We can not turn back, 
we can only go forward, with lifted eyes and freshened 
spirit, to follow the vision. It was of this that we 
dreamed at our birth. America shall in truth show the 
way. The light streams upon the path ahead, and 
nowhere else. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What has America done with the colonies captured from 
Spain in 1898? 2. Compare the number of American troops 
engaged in the Spanish-American War with the number sent to 
fight Germany. 



134 AMEEICANIZATION" 

AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP* 
Daniel Webster 

We have indulged in gratifying recollections of the 
past, in the prosperity and pleasures of the present, and 
in high hopes for the future. But let us remember that 
we have duties and obligations to perform corresponding 
to the blessing which we enjoy. Let us remember the 
trust, the sacred trust, attaching to the rich inheritance 
which we have received from our fathers. Let us feel 
our personal responsibility to the full extent of our power 
and influence, for the preservation of the principles of 
civil and religious liberty. And let us remember that it is 
only religion and morals, and knowledge, that can make 
men respectable and happy, under any form of govern- 
ment. Let us hold fast the great truth, that communi- 
ties are responsible as well as individuals; that no govern- 
ment is respectable which is not just; that without 
unspotted purity of public faith, without sacred public 
principle, fidelity, and honor, no mere forms of govern- 
ment, no machinery of laws, can give dignity to political 
society. In our day and generation, let us seek to raise 
and improve the moral sentiment, so that we may look, 
not for a degraded, but for an elevated and improved 
future. And when both we and our children shall have 
been consigned to the house appointed for all living, 
may love of country, and pride of country, glow with 
equal fervor among those to whom our names and our 
blood shall have descended. 

And then, when honored and decrepit age shall lean 
against the base of this monument, and troops of ingenu- 
ous youth shall be gathered around it, and when the one 
shall speak to the other of its objects, the purposes of its 

*From the Bunker Hill Oration. 



PHILAXDER P. CLAXTON 135 

construction, and the great and glorious events with 
which it is connected, then shall rise from every youthful 
breast the ejaculation, "Thank God, I — I also— am an 
American !" 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Who was Daniel Webster? 2. What is the inheritance 
which we have received from our fathers? 3. What historical 
event does the Bunker Hill Monument commemorate? 



DEMOCRACY IN EDUCATION* 
Philander P. Claxton 

If democracy has any valuable and ultimate meaning 
it is equality of opportunity. But there can be no 
equality of opportunity without equality of opportunity 
in education. If to any child this is denied and it is 
permitted to grow to manhood or womanhood without 
that education which prepares it for good living, for the 
duties and responsibilities of citizenship, and for making 
an honest living by some intelligent, useful occupation, 
then there is nothing which individual or society can do, 
nothing which man or God can do, to make good the loss. 
More than ever before are we beginning to understand 
that material progress, social purity, civic righteousness, 
political stability and strength, and the possibilities of 
culture and the attainment of higher ideals, all depend 
on the right education of all the people. If any man or 
woman follows his or her trade or profession with less 
intelligence and skill than he or she might, the total 
amount of wealth produced is less than it might be. 
If any lack knowledge of fundamental principles of 

*From the Report of the United States Commissioner of Educa- 
tion, 1915. 



136 AMEEICANIZATION 

government and institutional life necessary for intel- 
ligent citizenship in our democracy, the civic and political 
life of city, state, and nation is affected thereby. If the 
health, the culture, or the moral education of any has 
been neglected, all society and each of its members must 
suffer as a result. If any, through wrong education or 
the inculcation of false ideals, work at occupations for 
which they are not fitted or in which they may not serve 
themselves and society as well as they might in other 
ways, their own lives and the lives of us all are less full 
and satisfactory than they might otherwise be. We are 
bound up in the sheaf of life together, and our interests 
from the lowest to the highest and from the highest to 
the lowest are inextricably interwoven. Therefore the 
liberal use of public funds for the support of schools and 
other agencies of education is more and more clearly 
recognized as good business, and careful thinking and 
planning for the fullest and best education of all the 
children of all the people as the highest duty of citizen- 
ship. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What do we mean by "equality of opportunity"? — 
2. How does education prepare us for the duties and responsi- 
bilities of citizenship? 

AMERICANS FOR AMERICA 

Laurette Taylor 

America has always been of complex population; it 
always will be, and should be. The six white bars of 
the flag represent the six different racial stocks who 
battled for freedom against a German monarch and 

*From The Delineator for November, 1918. Used by permissiorj. 



LAURETTE TAYLOR 137 

his Hessian guardsmen in 1776. It is in our complexity 
of inheritance that America is truly great, verily the 
Land of the Free. Our nation was born, and has been 
reborn and reborn again in its immigrants. Thank God 
for them. But God forbid that the great principles 
on which the Union stands should ever be re-shaped or 
replaced by other principles; that our noble traditions 
should be warped by traditions of other lands; or that 
our culture and beliefs should give way to alien modes 
of thought and beliefs born of life in Europe which are 
false to the life of what is really America. 

Aliens in our midst should not blame American ideals 
and methods of government for evils which they have 
brought with them to our shores. It is true that the 
alien has suffered from industrial exploitation; but it 
is also true that he has been exploited, not by Ameri- 
cans, but by men of his own blood. The everlasting 
agitators, and a certain type of sophomoric highbrow, 
mouth loudly and continually of "Democracy." Pity 
is that the ignorant and the self-seeking unite so fre- 
quently to follow such leadership. 

The United States is founded on freedom to worship 
God as each man will, and on a perpetual guarantee to 
each and every man of the right to live, to enjoy liberty, 
and to pursue happiness. I wonder how many of those 
who find so much fault with this country and its system 
of government have ever stopped to analyze what these 
precious guerdons of our freedom really mean? I won- 
der if, in the light of an hour's quiet thought about only 
a few of our great national privileges, they would howl 
so much against our institutions, or demand in such 
unthinking 'terms an unqualified democracy? I wonder 
if they really know the sacred principles of Americanism 
. or if they are too careless, too ignorant of history on both 



138 AMERICANIZATION 

sides of the Atlantic, to treasure at their value, and to 
defend against every enemy, these priceless heritages of 
America? 

Or, if they are citizens, and have not sufficient apprecia- 
tion of the responsibilities of their citizenship, let them 
learn one lesson, the greatest, I think, of all the great 
lessons that our country teaches us. It is this: 

The government of these United States was set up, 
and exists, and derives its just powers from the consent 
of the people it governs. It is so organized, and so 
balanced with great care, as to secure by law to every 
person his inalienable rights. Therefore it is a democ- 
racy. But, besides doing all this, our system of govern- 
ment, not content with protecting our people under its 
laws, is also equipped with safeguards to prevent injus- 
tice by law. If mob spirit should lead a majorit}^ to 
enact unjust laws, in the final analysis our highest 
tribunal of justice stands between those unjust laws and 
the man or woman who, without this check on the 
popular will of the many, might suffer from them. 

A democracy — yes, but not a democracy like that of 
Danton and Robespierre, which bathed France with 
blood; or that of Lenine and Trotsk} x , which has given 
Russia temporarily to the dogs of fate — the United 
States is a democracy which recognizes that there are 
eternal principles of right and justice against which its 
own self-willed wrong or injustice must not be permitted 
to prevail — a democracy which acknowledges, as those 
other two would not, that above its own will stands the 
infinitely greater authority of Right, and the infinite 
principles of God Himself. 

Let us not wander in quest of false ideals or give ear to 
empty heroics and loud imaginings. 

Do not mistake the rabid vibrations of demagogues 



WILL H. HAYS 139 

and experimentalists for the heart-beat of the American 
nation. That great, steady pulse throbs strong, sturdy, 
true. When we need guidance in Americanism — in the 
kind of Americanism in which our nation was conceived 
and born, and has grown great — let us follow our own 
great law-givers : Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, 
Webster, Calhoun, Lincoln. 

God makes no man a slave, no doubter free; 
Abiding faith alone wins liberty. 

Let us have faith in the eternal principles of Ameri- 
canism, and our example, not less than our good sword, 
will make this world a decent place to live in. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Explain the allusion in the second sentence of the first 
paragraph. 2. How have aliens in America been exploited? 
3. Who was Danton? Robespierre? 



EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY* 
Will H. Hays 

Let all well-wishers of good government, regardless 
of party affiliations — let all those who love their country 
and its institutions listen for a moment, listen with eyes 
aloft, listen to the voice of experience and the call of 
inspiration from the spirit of America which was Wash- 
ington and Lincoln and Roosevelt — listen and hear from 
them the call: Carry on, Americans! Carry on! 
Carry on! Carry on, now, against the foes of our own 
household as you fought at Valley Forge, at the Argonne 
and at Chateau-Thierry. Carry on! Carry on! Find 

*Reprinted from The Saturday Evening Post, May 8, 1920. Copy- 
righted, 1923, by the Curtis Publishing Company, Philadelphia. 



140 AMERICANIZATION 

disloyalty if there be disloyalty, and scotch it; find 
dishonesty if there be dishonesty, and crush it; find the 
right, and cleave unto it. Keep your eyes raised, 
Americans, but keep your feet on solid ground! 

Find the reason for discontent, and meet it squarely; 
correct the cause where there is a cause, and mercilessly 
destroy the excuse where it is an excuse only. Find 
exact justice and demand it — demand it for all men and 
require it from all men. Remember the stuff you are 
made of, Americans. Remember the heritage which is 
yours. Remember — and be encouraged. The manhood 
and womanhood of America are sound. The stress of 
late days has strained all overmuch. 

Be patient with one another, but as you value your 
country's future wait not a moment to realize the 
emergency, nor longer delay j^our action. Each one is 
equally responsible. Stop and look within. Look, each 
one, to your own industry and thrift. Look to your own 
conscience and moral responsibility, and in the whirl of 
the storm about you seize upon common sense and good 
conscience. Holding fast, then, lift yourselves from the 
maelstrom of unrest and regain for yourselves your own 
sound judgment — and then reach for others as they are 
hurled by. 

Yes, forget not the others who are about you. It is as 
dangerous now as it was just outside the walls of Eden 
to ask in surprise: "Am I my brother's keeper?" 
Remember, we all go up or we all go down together. 
The great power which is the spirit of America must not 
tolerate any attempt to array group against group, 
section against section or sect against sect. Guard 
against this as you would against a pestilence; the nation 
has no greater enemy than one who would thus divide 
the country against itself. 



ALBEET SHIELS 141 

While you are in turmoil our late enemies are marshal- 
ing with dispatch all of their industrial resources, so let 
not our great accomplishments in war be marred by our 
inability to order our own affairs. Mere agitation and 
mere motion are not progress. The vicious circle is not 
the shortest distance between honest effort and highest 
reward. Remember that one man is better than another 
only when he does better. Give all well-behaved men 
and women their equality of opportunity, and require 
from them their full measure of accountability. Live 
and let live is not enough — we must live and help live — 
and, as you live and help live, find always exact justice 
and enforce it. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. What are the important facts to be remembered about 
Valley Forge? 2. Who was it who said: "Am I my brother's 
keeper"? 

EQUAL JUSTICE AND OPPORTUNITY* 

Albert Shiels 

The principles of democracy are equal justice and equal 
opportunity for all men of all degree. The people do not 
themselves legislate, judge, execute. For one hundred 
millions this would mean chaos. But they are free to 
elect directly or indirectly, as they may decide, their 
legislators, judges and executives. 

In a more profound sense, ours is a democracy of the 
people. The character of the people must decide the 
character of the government, just as it decides the 
character of the nation. The form of our government is 

*Extract from a series of articles entitled Americanization. Used 
by permission of the author. 



142 AMERICANIZATION 

near perfection. Iu: the form in itself guarantees 
nothing. The people determine wisel} T and honestly 
only if they are themselves wise and honest. 

The government will be a good government if those 
who own it love it and work for it, and if they labor to 
make their fellows love it and work for it. It can be 
made a poor government. Then the fault lies where it 
belongs. No one man in this democracy can wrap his 
toga about him and stalk away sa}4ng, "I have done my 
duty, let others do what they will." He is in the same 
boat with the rest, and he cannot save himself alone. 
Not only must he be a good citizen, but he must make 
the other one as good as he, or he goes down with him. 
That is Americanization — making yourself and every 
other one you can worthy of America. 

We are so much stronger, so much happier, so much 
better placed to-day than any other nation of the world, 
that even with all the faults we have, democracy stands 
triumphant. These things we owe to the wealth of the 
land, to the sturdy spirits that moved our frontiers from 
the Mississippi to the Western ocean, to the wisdom of 
the fathers, to the form of government we enjoy. As 
we become better Americans we shall learn not only our 
duty to the future but our obligation to the past. And 
the foreigners who wish to be good citizens must share the 
lessons with us. 

When our shops and factories are open for instruction 
for the illiterate and non-English speaking foreigner, 
when our schools no longer figure as wearisome incursions 
on the taxpayer, but rather as a splendid investment to 
make a better nation; when men and women, employers 
and employees, meet in constant conference to discuss 
their problems; when strikes and lockouts will be looked 



ALBEET SHIELS 143 

upon as only the most remote, unscientific methods of 
solution; when forums are established, and men and 
women, thoughtless of class distinction, will join in their 
communities to make a better city; when civic duty 
will not be a single annual vote at the ballot box, but a 
constant theme for unselfish thinking and unselfish labor, 
we shall all be in a fair way toward a real program of 
Americanization. 

All this seems an extravagant picture, yet every feature 
of it is being done somewhere, while nowhere are all these 
features organized into one composite whole. When 
that day comes there will be little room for the advance 
agent of professional discontent. He will not be abused; 
he will be laughed out of his corner pulpit. 

All these manifold activities will be developed as they 
become worth while. Every American wants the safety 
of his own property and the security of his own person 
assured. He wants industry to be profitable, whether 
he is employer or wage-earner. He wants opportunity 
for leisure and facilities for its enjoyment. He wants 
efficient government and honest administration. He 
has come to think that it is hard to have them together 
so he feels he must grab to get his share. Yet, if he and 
every one else could enjoy them together, he would be 
happy. He would even go further, and pay a consider- 
able premium to insure their possession for everybody. 
Yet these things are possible — possible if every one would 
work together to get them. The premium to be paid is 
not money, but time, labor and unselfish public interest. 
To have this faith, to back it up by works, to labor for its 
consummation among foreigners and native born, is real 
Americanism. 



144 AMERICANIZATION 

THE DUTY AND VALUE OF PATRIOTISM 

ARCHBISHOP JOHN IRELAND 

The human race pays homage to patriotism because 
of its supreme value. The value of patriotism to a 
people is above gold and precious stones, above com- 
merce and industry, above citadels and warships. 
Patriotism is the vital spark of the nation's honor, the 
living joint of the nation's prosperity, the strong shield 
of the nation's safety. 

When the fathers of the Republic declared: "That all 
men are created equal; that they are endowed by their 
Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among 
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," a 
principle was enunciated which, in its truth, was as old 
as the race, but in practical realization was almost 
unknown. 

The divine gift of liberty is God's recognition of man's 
greatness and man's dignity. In liberty lie the sweetness 
of life and the power of growth. The loss of liberty is the 
loss of light and sunshine, the loss of life's best portion. 
Under the spell of heavenly memories, humanity never 
has ceased to dream of liberty, and to aspire to its pos- 
session. Now and then, here and there, liberty had 
for a moment caressed humanity's brow. But not until 
the Republic of the West was born, not until the Star- 
Spangled Banner rose toward the skies, was liberty 
caught up in humanity's embrace and embodied in a 
great and abiding nation. 

In America the government takes from the liberty of 
the citizen only so much as is necessary for the weal of 
the nation. In America there are no masters who 
govern in their own right, for their own interest, or at 
their own will. We have over us no Bourbon saying: 



AECHBISHOP JOHN IRELAND 145 

"The State, I am the State"; no Hohenzollern proclaim- 
ing that in his acts as sovereign he is responsible only to 
his conscience and to God. Ours is the government of 
the people, by the people, and for the people. Our 
government is our own organized will. 

In America, rights begin with and go upward from the 
people. In other countries, even in those which are 
apparently the most free, rights begin with and come 
downward from the state; the rights of citizens, the 
rights of the people are concessions which have been 
wrested from the government. 

In America, whenever the government does not prove 
its grant, the liberty of the individual citizen remains 
intact. Elsewhere there are governments called repub- 
lics; there, too, universal suffrage establishes the state; 
but once established, the state is tyrannous and arbi- 
trary; invades at will private rights and curtails at wiF 
individual liberty. One republic only is liberty's native 
home — America. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Who said, "I am the State"? 2. Explain the allusion 
bo "Hohenzollern." 

AMERICANISM— WHAT DOES IT MEAN* 
Rabbi Emanuel Sternheim 

Patriotism is an immense natural force, a magical 
spell. It rests on the tie of blood which extends to the 
whole nation. It is based upon our home, the actual 
place to which we are bound by affection. Furthermore, 
it is based upon our reaction upon the world, language, 
ideas, modes of life, social habits. 

*From Social Service Review, April- June, 1920. 



146 AMERICANIZATION 

Americanism must speak to us of the great events 
which have come to ruffle our calm but to ennoble our 
character; and to put the coping stone upon the handi- 
work of centuries, which is the perfection of our Ameri- 
can system of democracy. In these terms we must spell 
patriotism as the first element in our ideal of Ameri- 
canism. 

An enlightened opinion, however, and a lofty concep- 
tion are not either in themselves or together sufficient. 
We need a lofty conception of service added as a part 
of the three-fold ideal of what Americanism means to us 
as individuals. 

If training for citizenship in our public schools is to be 
vital and enduring, it must express itself in some organ- 
ized form of community service. The army makes an 
appeal to the young and is composed largely of young 
men. Why should not recognized forms of public ser- 
vice be offered to our youth? They have more time 
than they know how to employ. The young prove effi- 
cient in industry; why should they not be efficient in the 
service of the community? They are eager for adven- 
ture and are more capable of devotion than they will 
ever be again. If they are given something to do in the 
service of the state and community, they will attain the 
art of social efficiency and will have a marked degree of 
public spirit for the rest of life. What form this service 
should take, I will not attempt to say, but I believe it 
will be one of the notable developments in the future 
training of our citizens. If the state calls youth to 
military service and must prescribe an age limit below 
which they shall be kept from the call of industry, is it 
not the part of wisdom to give them an honored and 
responsible place in the community and the state? 



HENEY CABOT LODGE 147 

Questions and Exercises 
1. In what ways can we combine for community service? 
2. How does one enter public life in America? 

GOOD CITIZENSHIP* 
Henry Cabot Lodge 

Assuming that good citizenship necessarily implies 
service of some sort to the state, the country, or the 
public, it must be understood, of course, that such ser- 
vice may vary widely in amount or in degree. The man 
and woman who have a family of children, educate them ; 
bring them up honorably and well, teaching them to love 
their country, are good citizens, and deserving well of 
the republic. The man, who, in order to care for his 
family and give his children a fair start in life, labors 
honestly and diligently at his trade, profession, or busi- 
ness, and who casts his vote conscientiously at all elec- 
tions, adds to the strength as well as to the material 
prosperity of the country, and thus fulfills some of the 
primary and most important duties of good citizenship. 

No man can hope to be a useful citizen in the broadest 
sense, in the United States, unless he takes a continuous 
and intelligent interest in politics and a full share, not 
only in the elections, but also in the primary operations 
which determine the choice of candidates. For this 
everyone has time enough, and, if he says that he has 
not, it is because he is indifferent when he ought to be 
intensely and constantly interested. If he follows public 
affairs from day to day, and, thus informed, acts with his 

*From A Frontier Town and Other Essays. Copyright, 1906, 
Charles Scribner's Sons. Reprinted by permission of the pub- 
lishers. 



,148 AMERICANIZATION" 

friends and those who think as he does at the caucus and 
the polls, he will make his influence fully felt and will 
meet completely the test of good citizenship. 

It is not essential to take office. But it would be well 
if every man could have, for a short period, some exper- 
ience in the actual work of government in his city, state, 
or nation, even if he has no intention of following a 
political career. Such an experience does more to 
broaden a man's knowledge of the difficulties of public 
administration than anything else. It helps him to 
understand how he can practically attain that which he 
thinks is best for the state, and, most important of all, 
it enables him to act with other men, and to judge justly 
those who are doing the work of public life. 

It is essential that every man who desires to be a useful 
citizen should not only take part in moulding public 
sentiment, in selecting candidates, and in winning elec- 
tions for the party or the cause in which he believes, but 
he should also be familiar with the character, abilities, 
and records of the men who must be the instruments 
by which the policies are to be carried out and the govern- 
ment administered. There are many ways, therefore, 
in which men may benefit and aid their fellowmen, and 
serve the state in which they live, but it is open to all 
men alike to help to govern the country and direct its 
course along the passing years. In the performance of 
this duty, any man can attain to good citizenship of the 
highest usefulness. It is not too much to say that our 
success as a nation depends upon the useful citizens who 
act intelligently and effectively in politics. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Some believe that a man who refrains from voting for a 
period of years should be deprived of the right of suffrage for a 



"THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR" 149 

given time. Do you? 2. Do you believe that the poll tax 
should be abolished? Why? 

LOYALTY TO DEMOCRATIC STANDARDS* 

Nothing is easier than to blame others if anything is 
wrong, or to leave the task to others if something a little 
exacting needs to be done. This is proverbially true 
with respect to the duties of citizenship, and in the least 
backward democracies, notwithstanding all national 
foundations have been shaken during the war, it is still 
a common thing for citizens to regard the civic error or 
obligation as that of "the other fellow." With all the 
deep and vital lessons of the war apparently less effective 
than might be expected, and with public schools weakened 
and, in scores of communities, closed for lack of teachers, 
the ordinarily patriotic American finds himself wondering 
what will arouse the nation to grapple with the problems 
of to-day, and to see that the children are properly 
educated to cope with the questions of to-morrow. 

In these circumstances especial interest, naturally 
and properly, attaches to those who took part in the 
war. They have undergone tests, they have been 
awakened, presumably they care what is done in their 
home democracy, and for its future. So, when it 
developed that the demobilized millions of American 
soldiers and sailors were to be united in a permanent 
organization, persons concerned for the welfare of the 
United States began to ask themselves how these active, 
forceful young men would exercise the immense power 
likely to be wielded by so great a union as theirs promised 
to be. Would they be steady? This was one of the first 
questions. There has not yet been very much to show 

*Condensed from an editorial in The Christian Science Monitor 
of January 7, 1920. Reprinted by permission. 



150 AMERICANIZATION" 

how they will make their influence felt in the affairs of 
the nation, but what there has been is mainly of the sort 
to give assurance. The few dignified public utterances 
of the man they have placed at their head have the right 
ring. It is evidently his purpose to build the mighty 
structure of the American Legion on broad lines and on a 
high plane. The importance of so doing is clearly 
beyond estimation, for this body of young men represents 
no section of the nation — but the entire republic. 

And what of the other millions of citizens? Perhaps 
they have had less in their experience to awaken them 
to the needs of the time than have the men who have 
been actually in the war, but there would seem to be 
enough, both of promise of progress and of cause for pre- 
caution, to interest any fairly intelligent member of a 
democracy. The entry of women as a great factor in 
national political affairs, and the advent of national 
constitutional prohibition, to mention nothing else, 
ought to inspire every well-meaning possessor of a vote 
to useful participation in the government of his country. 
As for the other side of the picture, much is heard, and 
ought to be heard, about the more striking manifesta- 
tions of ignorance, misconception, and disloyalty, and 
of their possible remedy. There is, however, just as 
much need of reform among the idly neglectful, and 
among the well-dressed, comparatively well-mannered, 
apparently harmless people, who by secret, underhand, 
and wholly selfish means, impair the integrity of indi- 
viduals and pervert the machinery of government. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. What civic duties are shirked by the citizens of your 
community? 2. What will be the probable effect upon the 
future of o.ur government of universal suffrage for women? 
Of national prohibition? 3. Cite instances to show how one 
may "pervert the machinery of government" for selfish ends. 



LAWKENCE LOWELL 151 

LIBERTY AND DISCIPLINE* 

Lawrence Lowell 

Americans are more familiar with the benefits of 
discipline in fact, than conscious of them in theory. 
Anyone who should try to manage a factory, a bank, a 
railroad, a ship, a military company, or an athletic 
team, on the principle of having every employee or 
member of the organization take whatever part in the 
work, and do it whatever way seemed best in his own 
eyes, would come to sudden grief and be mercilessly 
laughed at. We all know that any enterprise can be 
successful only if there is co-ordination of effort, or what 
for short we call team play. 

Experience has taught us that the maximum efficiency 
is attained where the team play is most nearly perfect, 
and therefore, the subordination of the individual to the 
combined action is most nearly complete. Then there 
is the greatest harmony of action, and the least waste by 
friction or working at cross purposes. But everyone is 
aware that such a condition does not come about of 
itself. Men do not fit into their places in a team or 
organization spontaneously. Until they have become 
experts they do not appreciate the relation of their 
particular work to the plan as a whole; and even when 
they have become familiar with the game or the industry, 
they are apt to overestimate their own part in it, or dis- 
agree about the best method of attaining the result. 
Everyone likes to rule, and when Artemus Ward suggested 
that all the men in a regiment should be made Brigadier 
Generals at once to avoid jealousy, he touched a familiar 
weakness in human nature. 

Believers in the principle of liberty assert that ft man 

* Reprinted from the Yale Review. Permission of the author. 



152 AMERICANIZATION 

will put forth more effort, and more intelligent effort, 
if he chooses his own field, and works in his own way, 
than if he labors under the constant direction of others. 
The mere sense of freedom is stimulating in a high degree 
to vigorous natures. The man who directs himself is 
responsible for the consequences. He guarantees the 
result, and stakes his character and reputation on it. 
If after selecting his own career he finds that he has 
chosen wrongly, he writes himself down a fool. The 
theory of liberty, then, is based upon the belief that a 
man is usually a better judge of his own aptitudes than 
anyone else can be, and that he will put forth more and 
better effort if he is free than if he is not. 

Both these principles, of discipline and of liberty, 
contain much truth. Neither is absolutely true, nor can 
be carried to its logical extreme, for one by subjecting all 
a man's actions to the control of a master would lead to 
slavery, the other by leaving every man free to disregard 
the common welfare would lead to anarchy. 

We have learned in this stress of nations that men 
cannot fight without ammunition well made in abund- 
ance; but we do not see that the crucial matter in civiliza- 
tion is the preparedness of young men for the work of the 
world; not only an ample supply of the best material 
but a product moulded on the best pattern, tempered 
and finished to the highest point of perfection. Is this 
the ideal of a dreamer that cannot be realized; or is it 
a vision which young men will see and turn to a virile 
faith? 



Questions and Exercises 
1. What is the difference between liberty and license? 



EDWIN E. SLOSSOX 153 

UNITED WE STAND* 
Edwin E. Slosson 

We Americans do not believe that people should be 
pressed into the same mould, machined to the same pat- 
tern. It was to escape such a process that man}' of us 
or our ancestors came to America. 

America was populated by the persecuted. Puritans 
from England, Huguenots from France, Germans from 
the Rhine, Catholics from Ireland, Czecho-Slovaks 
from Austria-Hungary, Armenians frcm Turkey, Jews 
from Russia. These are but a few of those who fled to 
America for freedom from the religious, economic, racial, 
or military oppression at home. All these were protes- 
tants and non-conformists in the original sense of these 
words, whether they wereiCatholicsor Congregational- 
ists. The}' were a chcsen people — chosen to be kicked 
out from their native lands. Whether our fathers came 
over in the "Mayflower" along with a shipload of furni- 
ture and pewter ware or whether they came over later 
in the more comfortable accommodations of a steamer 
steerage, it was mostly because they were considered 
undesirable citizens that they were forced or permitted 
to depart. 

America is a chosen land — selected out of all parts of 
the world as their future home by those who desired or 
were obliged to leave their native countries. This is an 
honor that we should appreciate and endeavor to deserve. 
The United States is a synthetic nation. Other coun- 
tries "just growed," like Topsy. Ours is the conscious 
and considered creation of its people. European and 

*From the Phi Beta Kappa address at the University of Chicago, 
June 14, 1920. Used by permission of the author. 



154 AMEBICANIZATION 

Asiatic countries are almost entirely populated by those 
who were born there and did not have energy enough to 
get away. Our population is largely composed of those 
who were not born here and had energy enough to come. 
What is called patriotism is sometimes not love of coun- 
try but mere laziness. Out patriotism is less alloyed 
with this element than any other, for a large proportion 
of Americans love America because they have lived 
elsewhere. They came here because they thought they 
would find it best; they stay here because they have 
found it best. Americanism is an elective course. 

Our form of government is no hand-me-down from a 
former generation, no misfit borrowed from another 
land. It is made to measure and is re-made to fit. Our 
social system is more of a skin than a coat. It grows 
with us. Every man his own tailor is the law of democ- 
racy. The king of France said, "I am the state. " It 
was a lie and they cut off his head for it. The American 
citizen says, "I am the state," and it is the literal truth. 
All men are monarchs. This develops a sense of responsi- 
bility. In other lands the people can complain, "Why 
don't they do it?" In America we can only wonder, 
"Why don't we do it?" 

Consequently the first lesson to be taught to an 
immigrant is that patriotism in the American sense is a 
different thing from Old World patriotism. American- 
ism does not mean loyalty to a king; it does not mean 
attachment to a particular spot of ground; it does not 
mean conformity to a fixed code of customs; it does not 
mean the perpetuation of traditional institutions; it 
does not mean the aversion to novel and foreign ideas; 
it does not mean hostility toward those who differ from 
us. 



EDWIN E. SLOSSON 155 

Americanism is one of the fine arts, the finest of all 
the fine arts, the art of getting along peaceably with all 
sorts and conditions of men. We Americans have had 
more experience in the practice of this art than other 
nations, and it is not undue boasting to say that we 
have acquired a certain proficiency in it. A steel mill 
may contain twenty different nationalities and they do 
not quarrel any more than so many Irishmen or Poles 
in their native land. A city block is a map of Europe 
in miniature. The immigrants try to keep up their 
traditional antipathies, but there are few Old World 
feuds that, if let alone, can resist the solvent atmosphere 
of America. Their children when they go to school call 
each other names and stretch their little necks trying 
to look down on one another. And when they grow up 
they go into partnership or intermarry. So scrapping 
and bargaining, quarreling and flirting, studying together 
and working together, they learn to know each other 
and become good Americans together. 

No nation was ever before put to such a strain as ours 
in the Great War, for none ever contained so many 
representatives of the belligerent nationalities, yet none 
proved more stable and strong. Our national motto 
was not true when it was adopted, but it is now. At 
last the American people, regardless of racial diversity, 
can say with sincerity: United we stand. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Explain the allusion to "Topsy". 2. Why can an 
American citizen say, "I am the state"? 3. Why does the 
author say that our national motto (e piuribus unum) was not 
true when it was adopted? 



156 AMEKICANIZATION 

THE ABILITY TO REASON, 

A NECESSARY QUALITY FOR CITIZENSHIP 

Arthur T. Hadley 

We are getting ready to be intelligent citizens — men 
who can judge public affairs, do independent thinking 
on national problems, and lead the nation into right lines 
of policy. Democracy needs this sort of leaders even 
more than it needs doctors or engineers; and it finds 
them very scarce. It is a good thing for a nation to 
have skilled medical advisers and skillful engineering 
experts. But it is an even better thing to have the 
energies of the nation as a whole wisely directed. The 
health of the body politic is more important than the 
health of one man or a hundred men. The waste due to 
misguided legislation is ten times greater than the waste 
due to miscalculated force. It is more fundamentally 
essential to preserve the country from political dangers 
at home or abroad than from the physical dangers which 
beset individuals. 

The source of these dangers to the body politic lies in 
the fact that most people in their political and social 
relations are guided by emotion rather than thinking, 
intuition rather than judgment. They alternate between 
unreasoning selfishness on the one hand and unreasoned 
benevolence on the other. The history of Greece and 
Rome and the cities of mediaeval Europe show how this 
difficulty over and over again has wrecked democratic 
government and brought nations which were once free 
under foreign rule or domestic tyranny. 

First, we must know how to find out facts; where to 
look for them, how to test them, how to judge the evi- 
dence for one statement or another in the face of our pre- 
possessions. This is often a difficult task. We are 
always tempted to accept the statement which is easiest 






ARTHUR T. HADLEY 157 

to understand, instead of the one that is most scrupu- 
lously near the truth; to take our knowledge from the 
highly colored phrases of the novel or the newspaper, 
rather than from laborious investigation of our own. 
Our eye is so caught by the label, the headline, or the 
advertisement, that we feel no impulse to test the under- 
lying reality. The bane of American work as a whole, 
both public and private, is the unwillingness of our 
people to take trouble to get things right. 

But we must do something more. It is not enough 
for us or for the country to face facts truthfully. We 
must know the relative importance of different kinds of 
facts. The man who has facts at command, knows 
their relative values, and understands the art of stating 
them in proper order, is the guide whom the people 
crave. Men sometimes talk of the selfishness of the 
masses or of their lack of intellectual curiosity. The 
trouble is not so much selfishness as restricted vision; 
not lack of curiosity, but desire to gratify that curiosity 
too easily. The man whose study of language has taught 
him to avoid unnecessary words, and whose study of 
mathematics or of law has taught him to take his 
thoughts to pieces and put them together again until 
he has arranged them in the form of proof, goes out into 
the world equipped as a leader of men. His it is to lift 
them above their prejudices. His it is to help them to 
wisdom which the citizens must possess in order that a 
free commonwealth may remain free. His it is to 
develop the rational patriotism and rational religion on 
which permanent freedom must rest. 



Questions and Exercises 

1. What is meant by "the ability to reason"? 2. What are 
the chief political dangers in any democracy? 



158 AMEBICANIZATION 

AMERICANISM* 
Theodore Roosevelt 

There are two or three things that Americanism means. 
In the first place it means that we shall give to our fellow- 
citizens, the same wide latitude as to his individual 
beliefs that we demand for ourselves; that, so long as a 
man does his work as a man should, we shall not inquire, 
we shall not hold for or against him in civic life, his 
method of paying homage to his Maker. 

Now for another side of Americanism, the side of the 
work. Our'democracy means that we have no privileged 
class, no class that is exempt from the duties or deprived 
of the privileges that are implied in the words " American 
citizenship. " Now that principle has two sides to it, 
itself, for all of us would be likely to dwell continually 
upon one side, that all have equal rights. It is more 
important that we should dwell on the other side; that 
is, that we will have our duties and that the rights can 
not be kept unless the duties are performed. 

The law of American life must be the law of work; 
not the law of idleness; not the law of self-indulgence or 
pleasure, merely the law of work. That may seem like 
a trite saying. Most true sayings are trite. It is a 
disgrace for any American not to do his duty, but it is a 
double, a triple disgrace for a man of means or a man of 
education not to do his duty. The only work worth 
doing is done by those men, those women, who learn not 
to shrink from difficulties, but to face them and over- 
come them. So that Americanism means work, means 
effort, means the constant unending strife with our con- 
ditions, which is not only the law of nature if the race is 

*Extract from an address delivered at the Jewish Chautauqua, 
July 23, 1900. 



THEODOKE BOOSEVELT 159 

to progress, but which is really the law of the highest 
happiness for us ourselves. 

You have got to have the same interest in public 
affairs as in private affairs or you cannot keep this 
country what this country should be. You have got to 
have more than that — you have got to have courage. 
I don't care how good a man is, if he is timid, his value is 
limited. The timid will not amount to very much in 
the w r orld. I want to see a good man ready to smite 
with the sword. I want to see him able to hold his own 
in active life against the force of evil. I want to see him 
war effectively for righteousness. 

Of all the things we don't want to see is the tendency 
to divide into camps, on the one side all the nice, pleas- 
ant, refined people of high instincts, but no capacity to 
do work, and, on the other hand, men who have not got 
nice instincts at all, but who are not afraid. When you 
get that condition, you are preparing immeasurable 
disaster for the nation. You have got to combine 
decency and honesty with courage. But even that is 
not enough, for I don't care how brave, how honest a 
man is, if he is a natural-born fool he cannot be a suc- 
cess. He has got to have the saving grace of common 
sense. He has got to have the right kind of heart, he 
has got to be upright and decent, he has got to be brave, 
and he has got to have common sense. He has got to 
have intelligence, and if he has those, then he has in him 
the making of a first-class American citizen. 



Questions and Exercises 

1. What are the "public affairs" in which we should take an 
interest? 2. What are some of the other ideals of American- 
ism? Is the construction, "You have got to have," in good form? 



160 AMERICANIZATION 

A MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY 
E. D. Shurter* 

What did Theodore Roosevelt mean when he said 
that there must be "no divided allegiance" in America? 
He certainly did not mean that one born in some other 
country should have no love for the land of his birth. 
He meant that when one comes to live in America, and 
takes advantage of the opportunities offered here, he owes 
America his first and sole allegiance. If he likes the 
conditions of life and the form of government of some 
other country better than he likes ours, plainly, he 
belongs to that country and should go there at once. 
All that America asks is that he shall choose some coun- 
try, and then live m the country of his choice; with "no 
divided allegiance." 

Beginning with the home, and extending to the com- 
munity, the state, the nation, the current of our lives 
must flow from the well-spring of loyalty. If a man says, 
"I am a citizen of the world," the reply is: "Very well, 
but just as you must first be a good, loyal member of 
your own household before you can become a good 
member of your community, even so must you first be a 
good loyal citizen of some one nation before you can be 
a good citizen of the world; you must first of all be a good 
nationalist before you can qualify as a good inter- 
nationalist." 

The man who is an internationalist in the sense of 
disclaiming allegiance to any one country, or is a resident 
of one country and a supporter of another, is in reality 
a man without a country. And can you imagine a more 
pitiable plight than a man in this position? The words 

* Adapted 



E. D. SHITKTER 161 

of Philip Nolan, "the man without a country/ ' should 
be burned into the mind and consciousness of every boy 
and girl in the United States. 

"Youngster," Nolan said, "if you are ever tempted to 
say a word or to do a thing that shall put a bar between 
you and your family, your home, and your country, 
pray God in His mercy to take you that instant home to 
His own heaven. Stick by your family, boy; forget that 
you have a self, while you do everything for them. 
Think of your home, boy; write and send, and talk about 
it. Let it be nearer and nearer to your thought the 
farther you have to travel from it. And for your coun- 
try, boy, and for her flag, never dream a dream but of 
serving her as she bids you, though the service carry 
you through a thousand hells. No matter what happens 
to you, no matter who flatters you or who abuses you, 
never let a night pass but you pray God to bless that 
flag. Remember boy, that behind all these men that 
you have to do with, behind officers, and government, 
and people even, there is the Country Herself, your 
Country, and that you belong to Her as you belong to 
your own mother. Stand by Her, boy, as you would 
stand by your mother." 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What further light is thrown upon the phrase, "no divided 
allegiance/ 7 by the selection on page 160? 2. Sketch the story 
of Philip Nolan, as recounted by Edward Everett Hale in his 
"Man Without a Country." What was the author's purpose in 
writing this story? Is it fact or fiction? 



162 AMERICANIZATION 

ANCESTRAL IDEALS* 
Henry Van Dyke 

America has followed her ancestral ideal of republican 
government with marvelous fidelity, and still more 
marvelous success. Without militarism she has made 
her power felt around the globe. Without colonies she 
has outstripped all colonial empires in the growth of her 
export trade. Without conquering vessels or annexing 
tributaries she has expanded her population from three 
million to one hundred million, and welcomed a score of 
races to her capacious bosom, not to subjugate them, but 
to transform them into Americans. Glory to the ideal 
of a new nation, " conceived in liberty, and dedicated 
to the proposition that all men are created equal !" 
Glory has come to it for a hundred years. Glory still 
waits for it. It is to-day the most potent and prosperous 
ideal in the whole world. All that this country needs 
is to be true to her own ideal, and so to lead mankind. 
But this last ideal which reaches forward into the long 
future — the ideal of national glory and grandeur — is 
it indeed ancestral? Did the fathers cherish it and dream 
of it? 

There are those who tell us that their eyes were not 
opened to behold this vision. We are asked to believe 
that they were short-sighted in regard to the greatness 
of America; and therefore their counsels are inapplicable 
to the days of our prosperity. I do not believe it. The 
representative of Spain at Paris in 1783, Count Arondo, 
said : " This Federal Republic is born a pigmy. The day 
will come when it will be a giant, a colossus, formidable 

*Extract from a speech delivered at the annual dinner of the New 
England Society of Philadelphia, December 22, 1898. Used by 
courtesy of the author. 






HENRY VAN DYKE 163 

even in these countries. Liberty and conscience, the 
facility for establishing a new population on immense 
lands, as well as the advantages of a new government, 
will draw artisans and farmers even from the great 
nations/' That was a vision of jealousy and fear. Do 
you believe that the eyes of our ancestors were too blind 
to behold that vision in joy and hope? Nay, they saw 
it, and they saw also how it was to be obtained. Not on 
the old plan of the Roman Empire, annexation without 
incorporation, but on the new plan of the American 
Republic — liberation, population, education, assimila- 
tion. 

Turn back to these noble words of the farewell address, 
in which the Father of Our Country said: "It will be 
worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, 
a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and 
too novel'example of a people guided by an exalted jus- 
tice and benevolence." This is our ancestral ideal of 
national glory and grandeur. Not military conquest, 
but worldwide influence. Not colonies in both hemis- 
pheres, but friends, admirers, and imitators around the 
globe. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. What Colonies has this country acquired since this speech 
was written? 2. How has America made her power felt around 
the globe? 

THE AMERICAN SPIRIT* 

James Cardinal Gibbons 

I claim that the American spirit is fundamentally a 
religious spirit. But, thank God, in this country, liberty 

*Adapted from an article in The Delineator,, July, 1918. Used 
by permission. 



164 AMERICANIZATION 

of conscience is respected, and the civil constitution 
holds over us the aegis of her protection without meddling 
in ecclesiastical affairs. "America," to quote Mr. 
Roosevelt, "this happy country pf ours, where religion 
and liberty are natural allies." And so for our basic 
Americanism, religion. 

Next, civic liberty and privilege. We are happily 
living under a government of constitutional freedom. 
Our citizens enjoy the largest measure of freedom that is 
compatible with law and order. They are justly impa- 
tient of arbitrary coercion and chafe under any undue 
restraint that might be imposed on their personal inde- 
pendence. This individualism is a healthy stimulus to 
legitimate activity and honorable emulation in the 
various walks of public and private life. 

Surely of all people on the face of the earth the Ameri- 
can citizen should take special delight in submitting to 
the legislation imposed upon him and in being loyal to 
his country and its institutions. 

The immigrant who comes to this land must remember 
that he owes a debt of gratitude to this land which opens 
wide its doors to him, and places within easy reach what 
is to-day the greatest of civil privileges : American citizen- 
ship! He leaves a land where, as yet, he is debarred 
directly or indirectly from many things that his heart 
desires. He comes into the New World, and in five years 
he walks a king among men, clothed with the panoply 
of free citizenship, with the privilege of suffrage, active 
and passive, eligible to every office but the highest, 
from which, however, his children are not debarred. 
The very magnificence of this political generosity makes 
many foreigners forget that it is a boon pure and simple 
to which they have no right, and which may be curtailed 
or denied as easily as it has been lavished. 



JAMES CAEDINAL GIBBONS 165 

On this blessed soil of freedom is the opportunity, not 
to be found elsewhere, to cultivate every civic virtue: 
interest in all public problems, conscientious study of 
public issues, the sense of union for the common weal, 
unprejudiced devotion to the growth of the states, 
incorruptible exercise of the sacred right of the ballot, 
which is the holy fountain of our political life and well- 
being, and to poison or trifle with which is to cut at the 
root of our state. These are indeed the privileges of 
Americanism. 

Next among qualities peculiar to the American spirit, 
I would name the dignity and the rights that are accorded 
to the American laboring class. The primeval curse 
attached to labor has been obliterated by the toilsome 
life of Jesus Christ. He has shed a halo around the 
workshop. 

De Tocqueville could not pay a more just or more 
beautiful tribute of praise to the genius of our country 
than when he wrote that every honest occupation in the 
United States was honorable. The honest, industrious 
man is honorable among us whether he works with his 
hands or his brains, because he is an indispensable factor 
in the nation's progress. 

As an evidence of the esteem in which the thrifty son 
of toil is held among us, we see from daily observation 
that the humblest vocations of life are no bar whatever 
to the highest preferment in the commonwealth, when 
talent and ability are allied to patient industry. Frank- 
lin was a printer. President Lincoln's youthful days 
were spent in wielding the ax and in handling the plow 
on his father's farm. President Johnson in his boyhood 
was apprenticed to a tailor. Grant was the son of a 
tanner, and Garfield once drove a canal boat. 

In honoring and upholding labor, the nation strength- 



166 AMERICANIZATION 

ens its own hands as well as pays a tribute to worth. 
For a contented and happy working class is the best 
safeguard of the republic. 

There are other attributes of our Americanism which I 
shall not attempt to define in detail. The people, imbued 
with the true American spirit, are gifted with a high order 
of intelligence. They are self-poised and deliberate. 
They are of industrious and temperate habits. They are 
frank, manly and ingenuous. They have a deep sense of 
justice and fair play. They are brave and generous, and 
they usually have the courage of their convictions. 

Let us glory in the title of American citizen ! It mat- 
ters not whether this is the land of our birth or the land 
of our adoption. It is the land of our destiny! Here 
we intend to live and here we hope to die. 

My countrymen will forgive me if I seem to yearn 
over this people, but I do so because I believe the 
American people to be precious in the sight of God and 
designed for a glorious future. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Who was Andrew Johnson? Garfield? Franklin? 



FART FIVE 
PRESEXT-DAY PROBLEMS 



FAITH IN AMERICA* 
George William Curtis 

There is a fashion of scepticism of American principles, 
even among some Americans, but it is one of the oldest 
and worst fashions in our history. There is a despond- 
ency which fondly fancies that, in its beginning, the 
American republic moved proudly toward the future 
with all the splendid assurance of the Persian Xerxes 
descending on the shores of Greece; but that it sits 
to-day among shattered hopes, like Xerxes above his 
ships at Salamis. And when was this golden age? Was, 
it when John Adams appealed from the baseness of his 
own time to the greater candor and patriotism of this? 
Was it when Fisher Ames mourned over lost America, 
like Rachel for her children, and would not be comforted? 
Was it when William Wirt said that he sought in vain 
for a man fit for the presidency or for great responsi- 
bility? Was it when Chancellor Livingston saw only a 
threatening future, because Congress was so feeble? 
Was this the golden age of these doubting sighs, this the 
region behind the north wind of these reproachful 
regrets? 

Nay, this very scepticism is one of the fees that we 
must meet and conquer. Remember, fellow citizens, that 
the impulse of republican government, given a century 

*From an oration delivered at the Centennial Celebration of 
Concord Fight, April 19, 1875. Copyrighted, 1894, by Harper 
and Brothers. 

169 



170 AMERICANIZATION 

ago at the old North Bridge, has shaken every govern- 
ment in the world, but has been itself wholly unshaken 
by them. . . . And what cloud of doubt so dark 
hangs over us as that which lowered above the colonies 
when the troops of the king marched into Concord? 
With their faith and their will we shall win their victory. 
No royal governor, indeed, sits in yon stately capitol, 
no hostile fleet for many a year has vexed the waters 
of our coasts, nor is any army but our own ever likely to 
tread our soil. Not such are our enemies to-day. They 
do not come proudly stepping to the drum-beat, with 
bayonets flashing in the morning sun. But wherever 
party spirit shall strain the ancient guarantees of free- 
dom; or bigotry and ignorance shall lay their fatal hands 
upon education; or the arrogance of caste shall strike at 
equal rights; or corruption shall poison the very springs 
of national life — there, minute-men of liberty, are your 
Lexington Green and Concord Bridge: and, as you love 
your country and your kind, and would have your chil- 
dren rise up and call you blessed, spare not the enemy! 
Over the hills, out of the earth, down from the clouds, 
pour in resistless might. Fire from every rock and tree, 
from door and window, from hearthstone and chamber; 
hang upon his flank and rear from noton to sunset, and 
so, through a land blazing with holy indignation, hurl 
the hordes of ignorance and corruption and injustice 
back, back in utter defeat and ruin. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Who are the historical characters referred to? 2. Have 
wa to-day other domestic enemies not mentioned by the author? 
3. The last paragraph is full of allusions to the battles of Lex- 
in^top and Concord. Explain them. 



ALBERT SHAW 171 

PUBLIC SPEAKING IN THE* 
COUNTRY DISTRICTS 

Albert Shaw 

There is an important agency that has played a great 
part in the historical development cf our American 
democracy, and that must be definitely maintained and 
further developed for the essential service it has yet to 
render. This agency is what may best be termed the 
platform. The right of assembly and public discussion, 
like that of the freedom of the press, is part and parcel 
of the constitutional life of all English-speaking coun- 
tries. 

The platform as an institution has had its notable 
history in Great Britain, where it has long been recog- 
nized as a leading factor in the mechanism of political 
life, and of parliamentary and local government. It has 
often been said that England is governed by discussion; 
and the two established forms of discussion are the press 
and the platform, around both of which constitutional 
guarantees have been created. 

We have come to be a nation of two dwellers by a very 
rapid process of industrial evolution. Relatively speak- 
ing, the country districts seem neglected and lonesome. 
It is more important, therefore, to sustain in the country 
districts the custom of assembly and public speech. 
Every rural neighborhood should have its auditorium 
associated with a consolidated school. The auditorium 
should be constantly used for instructive and entertain- 
ing lectures or political discussion, for promotion of 
improved agriculture and neighborhood life, for educa- 

*From the News Letter published by the University of Virginia. 
Reprinted by permission. 



172 AMEKICANIZATION 

tional "movies," and for social gatherings of the art of 
speaking. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. What does Mr. Shaw mean by "the platform"? 2. How 
can public speaking improve agriculture? 3. What sort of 
"movies" should we aim to have? 



GOVERNMENT BY PUBLIC OPINION* 
E. D. Shurter 

An indispensable qualification for social service is, 
that a good citizen should aid in the formation and 
guidance of public opinion. And let us ever remember 
that if we are in reality a self-governing people, if we 
really have a government by the people, it is by that 
token, a government of public opinion. Public opinion, 
after all, is our real governor and legislature, our real 
congress and president. We have such laws as public 
opinion demands, and we are governed by such laws as 
public opinion chooses to enforce. 

The morality of the greater number is the only resource 
by which liberty can live in a democracy. We must 
therefore have an alliance of pur effort for the best and 
highest things — this is our duty as patriots and citizens. 
You start out with an idea that you firmly believe is for 
the good of your community, your state, or your 
nation. You may start alone. Presently you get 
another citizen thinking the same way. What you and 
he think is in the end more powerful than all the material 
forces of the universe, for what you and he and another 
and another think, is public opinion. It has been said 
that, "Whenever you meet a dozen earnest men pledged 

*In part adapted from various sources. 



GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS 173 

to a new idea, you meet the beginning of a new revolu- 
tion." This public opinion is not substantial, it is not 
palpable, it may not readily be translated into terms of 
money or power or vital force, but it crushes all these 
things before it. You may found your institutions, as 
has eloquently been said, upon injustice and wrong and 
oppression, but in the course of time the pulse beat of a 
true-hearted girl may wear them down. 

And so this intangible thing we call public opinion 
crushes all things before it. When it rises sure and firm 
and strong, no material force on this earth can stop it. 
For a time it may be dammed and checked; for a day or 
a week or a decade it may be turned from its channel, yet 
money cannot hold it, arm cannot hold it, cunning can- 
not baffle it. For it is God moving among men. Thus 
he manifests himself in this earth. Through the cen- 
turies, amid the storm and stress of time, often muffled, 
often strangled, often incoherent, often inarticulate with 
anguish, but always in the end triumphant, the voice of 
the people is indeed the voice of God. And so, whether 
we like speech-making or not, let us not underrate the 
value and the influence of free and untrammeled public 
discussion. For just in proportion to the freedom of our 
institutions is the need of men in every community who 
can stand on their own feet and think, who believe in the 
right and fear not to speak their honest convictions, who 
stand outside of party and beyond the influence of the 
press, outside of the clamor of the mob or of the moment, 
and who are able and willing to tear a question open and 
let the light through it. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Give examples of the force of public opinion. 2. How 
can public opinion in your community be influenced to accom- 
plish certain needed reforms? 



174 AMERICANIZATION 

AMERICAN CHARACTER* 

Brander Matthews 

According to the theory of the conservation of energy, 
there ought to be about as much virtue in the world at 
one time as at another. According to the theory of the 
survival of the fittest, there ought to be a little more now 
than there was a century ago. We Americans to-day 
have our faults, and they are abundant enough and 
blatant enough, and foreigners take care that we shall 
not overlook them; but our ethical standard — however 
imperfectly we may attain to it — is higher than that of 
the Greeks under Pericles, of the Romans under Caesar, 
of the English under Elizabeth. It is higher even than 
that of our forefathers who established our freedom, as 
those know best who have most carefully inquired into 
the inner history of the American Revolution. In 
nothing was our advance more striking than after the 
Revolution and after the Civil War. When we made our 
peace with the British the native Tories were proscribed, 
and thousands of loyalists left the United States to carry 
into Canada the indurated hatred of the exiled. But 
after Lee's surrender at Appomattox, no body of men, no 
single man indeed, was driven forth to live an alien for 
the rest of his days; even though a few might choose to 
go, none was compelled. 

This change of conduct on the part of those who were 
victors in the struggle was evidence of an increasing 
sympathy. Not only is sectionalism disappearing, but 
with it is departing the feeling that really underlies it — 
the distrust of those who dwell elsewhere than where we 
do. This distrust is common all over Europe to-day. 

*From The American of the Future and Other Essays. (Copyright, 
1909. Charles Scribner's Sons.) Reprinted by permission. 



FKAWK TRUMBULL 175 

Here in America it has yielded to a friendly neighborli- 
ness which makes the family from Portland, Maine, soon 
find itself at home in Portland, Oregon. It is getting 
hard for us to hate anybody — especially since we have 
disestablished the devil. We are good-natured and easy- 
going. Herbert Spencer even denounced this as our 
imjnediate danger, maintaining that we were too good- 
natured, too easy-going, too tolerant of evil; and he 
insisted that we needed to strengthen our wills to protest 
against wrong, to wrestle with it resolutely, and to over- 
come it before it is firmly rooted. 

We are kindly and we are helpful; and we are fixed 
in the belief that somehow everything will work out all 
right in the long run. But nothing will work out all 
right unless we so make it work; and excessive optimism 
may be as corrupting to the fiber of the people as "the 
Sabbathless pursuit of fortune/ ' as Bacon termed it. 
Mr. James Bryce, has recently pointed out that the 
intelligent native American has — and by experience he is 
justified in having — a firm conviction that the majority 
of qualified voters are pretty sure to be right. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. What was the position of the Greeks under Pericles? 
Of the Romans under Caesar? Of the English under Elizabeth? 
2. Why is our ethical standard higher? 

COOPERATION WITH THE MAN LOWER 

DOWN* 

Frank Trumbull 

The word Americanism may be a very inclusive term, 

*Extract from a speech delivered before the New England Society, 
in the City of New York, December 22, 1916. Used by permission 
of the author. 



176 AMEBICAXIZATIOX 

but it involves two or three concrete things which I shall 
mention. First, free education, but we have so long 
ago adopted it that we have quit talking about it, except 
to boast. There are thousands of workmen in this 
country who cannot understand a command given in 
English. The learning of English diminishes misunder- 
standings not only between employers and employees, 
but in hundreds of other ways. We want them to learn 
English, not because it is the best language in the world, 
but because it is our currency' of thought. 

Second, we should have American standards of living. 
These people are usually segregated, and unless they 
are well housed the community and the State inevitably 
lose greatly in efficiency, and community health is 
endangered. 

Third, we should fit them for becoming real citizens. 
It is to our interest in every way that having cast in their 
lot with us, they shall know more about our institutions 
and what a beneficial thing it is to become a citizen. 

Thirteen million of our people are foreign born and 
ten million are negroes. Shall we be able to compete 
with the reorganized countries of Europe if we permit 
these twenty-three million people to be inefficient? The 
talk of the hour is "Efficiency! Efficiency !" But more 
than that we want not only forty-eight States under one 
flag, but we want one hundred million united people — 
united for everything that will make America the best 
place in the world to live in, as well as the best place to 
make money in; and a country loved and respected by all 
who dwell in it. It is a day for releasing great construc- 
tive forces — humanics as well as mechanics. 

Not long ago I heard this story told in a most appealing 
way: one day a woman was sitting on the veranda of a 
hotel in Switzerland. She had a field glass in her hand 
and was looking upon a group of mountain climbers who 



HUGH WILEY 177 

were climbing one of the most difficult peaks. Suddenly 
she shrieked aloud, dropped the glasses to the floor, and 
fell in a swoon. A gentleman ran quickly to her side, 
picked up the glasses, and looked upon the scene. He 
saw four men making a struggle to climb the mountain. 
One had driven the axe into the side of the mountain 
and was safely at the top. Beneath him were three 
others, one of whom was desperately clinging to the 
edge of a rock, the other two dangling in the air, when 
suddenly the rope gave way, parted between the top 
man and the three below, and the three men in turmoil 
and confusion fell thousands of feet into the deep ravine 
to death. That afternoon they brought in the bodies 
of the dead men. The next morning the man who was 
at the top came into the hotel, and when they saw him 
women and children moved away from him. At length 
he met a gentleman in the smoking-room and said to 
him, "No one has spoken to me. What is the matter?" 
The gentleman replied, "Excuse me, but if you want to 
know, we found that the rope was cut." 

My friends, do not cut the rope that holds the man 
lower down. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Why may every illiterate person become a menace to our 
government? 2. Should we not assist the immigrant, for our 
own account if for no worthier motive, to better his condition 
of life? Why? 

WORK OR DIE* 
Hugh Wiley 
In the complex organization which we call society we 
have lost sight of the simple business of life. We say that 

*Reprinted from The Saturday Evening Post. Copyrighted, 1920, 
by The Curtis Publishing Company, Philadelphia. 



178 AMERICANIZATION 

life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are three inher- 
ent rights of the individual. Life is a good thing, but 
the fact of our being born into this world does not give 
us the right to life. The world is beautiful. The scheme 
of life is good, but we enjoy title to life only in so far as 
we pay the unit installments; only as we meet our obliga- 
tions from day to day and from year to year until life is 
done. The one appropriate currency with which to pay 
for life is work. Man is capable of transforming the fuel 
of food into energy and work. We can buy the right to 
live with a proper daily expenditure of useful work. 
The individual who does not pay the price of life has no 
right to it. 

Brains have respect for muscle and muscle has respect 
for brains. A man who spends his strength in useful 
work gets from his work something besides the silver of 
his daily wage. Work is enjoyable and beautiful, and 
men who have worked know this. Fatigue that fol- 
lows effort is the reward that answers the question of 
the day: "What have I done to earn life?" 

The United States is composed of parasites and pro- 
ducers. The people of a nation are all consumers. 
They must eat. In a community where all men are 
consumers and one-half of them are producers it follows 
that each producer is sustaining his own life and the life 
of one parasite. 

Society is made up of men, women and children. Men 
and women must work. In the United States only a 
small percentage of men and women do work. When 
every man and every woman works the high cost of 
living, political disorder, strikes and all the phenomena of 
social unrest will be at an end. Work is the cure. It is 
the only cure. 

The final rewards for work performed are delayed by a 



HUGH WILEY 179 

hundred foolish afflictions which society suffers to-day. 
Most of these would disappear if men would work. 
Most of the ills which now affect the workers of a popula- 
tion would disappear if men who work would learn the 
real reward of effort. Xot many laborers or mechanics 
or professional men carry with them the realization that 
their work is something more than a means of obtaining 
cash with which to buy the things essential to their 
lives. The man who works is bound by an obligation 
greater than his contract with his employer. He is 
bound by his debt for life received. Not many men 
realize this obligation. Until men discover that they 
must buy the right to live with the coin of sweat they 
will continue to side-step the obligation of delivering a 
day's work in return for their wages. 

The first need in the government of the United States 
is a first-class business man for President and a group of 
assistants such as any first-class business man would 
surround himself with. The United States is a good 
place to live in, but a business administration could 
improve it a million per cent. The people of the United 
States have much to learn. Experience is a great 
teacher, but unfortunately experience dies with the 
individual. We persist in neglecting to take advantage 
of the knowledge which can be gained from other men's 
experiments and other men's mistakes. With our own 
hands we must pick up a live wire before we can appre- 
ciate the kick that can exist in unseen forces. 

There is salvation in the fact that the moral instinct 
exists in every man. With it is an ambition for the good 
things of life. W^ork is the one agency through which 
these things may be enjoyed. Work will buy life and 
happiness. 

On the day that all men sense the moral obligation 



180 AMERICANIZATION 

which demands that they shall pay in honest useful work 
the price of life they will know contentment. An appro- 
priate expenditure of brain or muscle is the price of life. 
There is no honest alternative. Work or die. 



THE AMERICAN MIND* 
Henry Seidel Canby 

The great Americans of the past have nearly all been 
conservative-liberals. Washington was a great republi- 
can; he was also essentially an aristocrat in social and 
economic relations, who kept slaves and did not believe 
in universal suffrage. Lincoln, politically was the 
greatest of English-speaking democrats, but he let the 
privileged classes exploit the workingman and the 
soldier, partly in order to win the war, chiefly because 
problems of wages and unearned increments and eco- 
nomic privilege generally did not enter into his scheme of 
democracy. Roosevelt fought a good fight for the 
square deal in public and private life, but hesitated and 
at last turned back when it became evident that a deal 
that was completely square meant the overturning of 
social life as we knew and loved it in America. 

And these men we feel were right. Their duty was 
to make possible a good government and a stable society, 
and they worked not with theories only, but also with 
facts as they were. The Germans have argued that the 
first duty of the state is self-preservation, and that 
rights of individual men and other states may properly 
be crushed in order to preserve it. We have crushed the 
Germans and, one hopes, their philosophy. But no 
one doubts that it is a duty of society to preserve itself. 
No one believes that universal suffrage for all, negroes 

*From the Century Magazine, July, 1919. Reprinted by per- 
mission of the author. 



HENRY SEIDEL CANBY 181 

included, would have been advisable in Washington's 
day, when republicanism was still an experiment. No 
one believes, I fancy, that the minimum wage, the 
inheritance tax, and cooperative management should 
have had first place, or indeed any place, in the mind of 
Lincoln of 1863. Few suppose that Roosevelt as a 
socialist would have been as useful to his United States 
as Roosevelt the Progressive, with a back-throw toward 
the ideals of the aristocratic state; as Roosevelt the 
conservative-liberal. 

Thus the American mind is worth troubling about; 
and if politically, socially, economically the spirit that 
we and the foreigners call American has become stagnant 
in its liberalism, it is time to awake. In liberalism inheres 
our vitality, our initiative, our strength. Its stagna- 
tion, its inertia, its blindness to the new waves of freedom 
sweeping upward from the masses and on in broken and 
muddy torrents through the world are poignant dangers. 
We must open eyes; we must change our ground; we 
must fight the evil in the new revolution, but welcome 
the good. Our own revolution lies before the deluge; 
it is no longer enough to go on; it is not now the sufficing 
document of a political philosophy. We must not stop 
with Washington and Lincoln. We must go on where 
the conservative Washington and the radical Lincoln 
would lead if they were our contemporaries. Radical- 
conservatism is good, and Toryism or radicalism have 
their uses; but conservative-liberalism, preserved, desic- 
cated museum liberalism, long continued in, is death to 
the minds that maintain it. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What liberal ideas have been advanced in recent years 
by Wm. J. Bryan, Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Ford, Louis F. 
Post? 



182 AMEKICANIZATION 

THE SCHOLAR IN A REPUBLIG 

Wendell Phillips 

Gibbon says we have two educations, one from 
teachers, and the other we give ourselves. This last is 
the real and only education of the masses — one gotten 
from life, from affairs, from earning one's bread; neces- 
sity, the mother of invention; responsibility, that 
teaches prudence, and inspires respect for right. 

Anacharsis went into the Archon's court of Athens, 
heard a case argued by the great men of that city, and 
saw the vote by five hundred men. Walking in the 
streets, someone asked him, "What do you think of 
Athenian liberty?" "I think/' said he, "wise men argue 
cases, and fools decide them." Just what that timid 
scholar, two thousand years ago, said in the streets of 
Athens, that which calls itseli scholarship here says 
to-day of popular agitation — that it lets wise men argue 
questions and fools decide them. God lent to Athens 
the largest intellects, and it flashes to-day the torch 
that gilds yet the mountain peaks of the Old World; 
while Egypt, the hunker conservative of antiquity, 
where nobody dared to differ from the priest or to be 
wiser than his grandfather; where men pretended to be 
alive, though swaddled in the graveclothes of creed and 
custom as close as their mummies were in linen — that 
Egypt is hid in the tomb it inhabited, and the intellect 
Athens has trained for us digs to-day those ashes to find 
out how buried and forgotten hunkerism lived and acted. 

I urge on college-bred men that, as a class, they fail in 
republican duty when they allow others to lead in the 
agitation of the great social questions which stir and 
educate the age. Agitation is an old word with a new 



WENDELL PHILLIPS 183 

meaning. Sir Robert Peel, the first English leader who 
felt himself its tool, defined it to be " marshalling the 
conscience of a nation to mould its laws." Its means are 
reason and argument — no appeal to arms. Wait 
patiently for the growth of public opinion. That 
secured, then every step taken is taken forever. An 
abuse once removed never reappears in history. The 
freer a nation becomes, the more utterly democratic in 
its form, the more need of this outside agitation. Parties 
and sects, laden with the burden of securing their own 
success, cannot afford to risk new ideas. " Predominant 
opinions/' said Disraeli, "are the opinions of a class that 
is vanishing." The agitator must stand outside of 
organization, with no bread to earn, no candidate to 
elect, no party to save, no object but truth — ever ready 
to tear a question open and riddle it with light. 

To be as good as our fathers we must be better. They 
silenced their fears and subdued their prejudices, 
inaugurating free speech and equality with no precedent 
on the file. Europe shouted "Madmen!" and gave us 
forty years for the shipwreck. With serene faith they 
persevered. Let us rise to their level. 

Sit not, like the figure on our silver coin, looking ever 
backward. 

"New occasions teach new duties; 
Time makes ancient good uncouth; 
They must upward still, and onward, 
Who would keep abreast of Truth. 
Lo! before us gleam her camp-fires! 
We ourselves must Pilgrims be, 
Launch our Mayflower, and steer boldly 
Through the desperate winter sea, 
Nor attempt the Future's portal 
With the Past's blood-rusted key." 



184 AMERICANIZATION 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Is not the word "gotten" obsolete? Consult your dic- 
tionary as to its use. 2. What is the meaning of "hunker"? 
3. How long was slavery agitated in the United States before 
the Emancipation Proclamation was issued? 



THE EDUCATED MAN AND THE 
DEMOCRATIC IDEALS* 

Charles E. Hughes 

It is of first importance that there should be sympathy 
with democratic ideals. I do not refer to the conven- 
tional attitude commonly assumed in American utter- 
ances and always taken on patriotic occasions. I mean 
the sincere love of democracy. As Montesquieu says : 
"A love of the republic in a democracy is a love of the 
democracy; as the latter is that of equality." 

It would be difficult to find an association in which 
wealth, or family, or station are of less consequence, 
and in which a young man is appraised more nearly at 
his actual worth, than in an American college. Despite 
the increase of luxury in college living, the number of 
rich men's sons who frequent these institutions, and the 
amount of money lavishly and foolishly expended, our 
colleges are still wholesomely democratic. A young 
man who is decent, candid, and honorable in his dealings 
will not suffer because he is poor, or his parents are 
obscure, and the fact that he may earn his living in 
humble employment in order to pay for his education 
will not cost him the esteem of his fellows. He will be 
rated, as the rich man's son will be rated, at the worth 
of his character, judged by the standards of youth which 

*From Conditions of Progress in Democratic Government, Yale 
University Press, 1910. Reprinted by permission. 



CHAKLES E. HUGHES 185 

maintain truth and fair dealing and will not tolerate 
cant or sham. This is so largely true that it may be 
treated as the rule, and regrettable departures from it as 
the exception. 

But a larger sympathy and appreciation are needed. 
The young man who goes out into life favorably disposed 
toward those who have had much the same environment 
and opportunity may still be lacking in the broader 
sympathy which should embrace all his fellow country- 
men. He may be tolerant and democratic with respect 
to those who, despite differences in birth and fortune, 
he may regard as kindred spirits, and yet in his relation 
to men at large, to the great majority of his fellow beings, 
be little better than a snob. Or despite the camaraderie 
of college intercourse he may have developed a cynical 
disposition or an intellectual aloofness, which while not 
marked enough to interfere with success in many voca- 
tions, or to disturb his conventional relations, largely 
disqualifies him from aiding his community as a public- 
spirited citizen. The primary object of education is to 
emancipate; to free from superstition, from the tyranny 
of worn-out notions, from the prejudices, large and small, 
which enslave the judgment. His study of history and 
of the institutions of his country has been to little pur- 
pose if the college man has not caught the vision of 
democracy and has not been joined by the troth of heart 
and conscience to the great human brotherhood which 
is working out its destiny in this land of opportunity. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Why do more poor boys go to our state universities than 
to the large eastern universities? 2. Who is Charles E. 
Hughes? 



186 AMERICANIZATION 

THE PILGRIMS' RELIGION AS A GUIDE FOR 

TO-DAY* 

Gustav A. Carstensen 

Guizot has said that democracy came into Europe in 
the little boat which brought St. Paul. Even so the 
charter framed in the cabin of the Mayflower for the 
government of the Pilgrim Colony has been the corner- 
stone of American liberty and the inspiration of liberal- 
izing governments all over the world. The fathers are 
gone; but their children are "princes in all the earth. " 
It is a commonplace of history that the basic principle of 
our government is that of the New England town- 
meeting; and it is just as true that the power behind 
that great Puritan movement which Carlyle called "the 
last great heroism of the world" was the Bible. The 
power which shattered the absolutism of the Stuarts 
was the power which struck Plymouth Rock and made 
it the American Horeb. Herein lay the inherent strength 
of the Pilgrim Fathers. -v 

A world which is burdened with sin and groaning in 
misery will not be helped by any system which evaporates 
in sentiment or crystalizes in selfishness, or caters to 
human weaknesses. What we admire and need to 
emulate in the Pilgrim Fathers is their sturdy devotion 
and singleness of purpose which never encountered 
obstacles but to conquer them, and their unflinching 
loyalty to the truth as they understood it. No perilous 
voyage over a dreary waste of ocean, no struggle with 
cold and hunger and illness and death, no dangers of 
marauding savages confront us but we are beset with 
perils just as real and more insidious: the peril of self- 

*From a sermon preached at Trinity Church, New York, on 
Sunday, December 21, 1919. 



GUSTAV A. CAESTE2JSEN" 187 

seeking; the peril of cowardly compromise; the peril 
of easy-going indifference; the peril of a blind optimism 
without reason and without objective which means 
^complacent idleness. 

The world is hungry for what real Christianity has 
to give and what it has a right to expect of us — the reality 
of human fellowship, the highest and best of human cul- 
ture, the safest and sanest scheme of human living. 
That is the "Gospel of the Secular Life." It does not 
guarantee protection against earthquake, fire and flood; 
it does not insure success in business, or social standing. 
It may not raise a crop or even fill a church. It does not 
promise immunity from hell fire, nor guarantee a blissful 
self-satisfying heaven. It makes no appeal to men 
absorbed in money grabbing amusements, politics, 
socialism, Bolshevism or anything which promises only 
material gain. The uncompromising cross looms up 
before men and summons them to self -surrender and 
sacrifice and service as it never has before. I invoke 
that spirit which your fathers' bequeathed to you; the 
spirit of that soldier of Bennington who said, "Boys, we 
win this battle, or to-night Mollie Stark sleeps a widow/' 
I invoke the spirit of the old Quaker poet who fought to 
kill black slavery and when his earthly course was 
nearly done sat in his house at Danvers and wrote: 

"And so beside the silent sea 

I wait the muffled oar; 
No harm from Him can come to me 

On ocean or on shore. 

"I know not where His islands lift 

Their fronded palms in air, 
I only know I cannot drift 

Beyond His love and care." 



188 AMERICANIZATION 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Is the author of this selection as specific as he might 
be? 2. Does he not deal in "glittering generalities"? 

THE INFLUENCE OF THE IMMIGRANT ON 

AMERICA* 

Walter Edward Weyl 

We must not forget that these men and women who 
file through the narrow gates at Ellis Island, hopeful, 
confused, with bundles of misconceptions as heavy as 
the great sacks upon their backs — we must not forget 
that these simple, rough-handed people are the ancestors 
of our descendants, the fathers and mothers of our 
children. 

So it has been from the beginning. For a century a 
swelling human stream has poured across the ocean, 
fleeing from poverty in Europe to a change in America. 
Englishman, Welshman, Scotchman, Irishman, German, 
Swede, Norwegian, Jew, Italian, Bohemian, Serb, 
Syrian, Hungarian, Pole, Greek — one race after another 
has knocked at our doors, been given admittance, has 
married us and begot our children. We could not have 
told by looking at them whether they were to be good 
or bad progenitors, for racially the cabin is not above 
the steerage, and dirt, like poverty and ignorance, is but 
skin-deep. A few years, and the stain of travel has left 
the immigrant's cheek; a few years, and he loses the odor 
of alien soils; a generation or two, and these outlanders 
are irrevocably our race, our nation, our stock. 

That stock, a little over a century ago, was almost 
pure British. True, Albany was Dutch, and many of 
the signs in the Philadelphia streets were in the German 
language. Nevertheless, five-sixths of all the family 
names collected in 1790 by the census authorities were 

*By permission of Mrs. Walter E. Weyl. 



WALTER EDWARD WEYL 189 

pure English, and over nine-tenths were British. Despite 
the presence of Germans, Dutch, French and Negroes, 
the American was essentially an Englishman once 
removed, an Englishman stuffed with English traditions, 
prejudices, and stubbornnesses, reading English books, 
speaking English dialects, practising English law and 
English evasions of the law, and hating England with 
a truly English hatred. In all but a political sense 
America was still one of "His Majesty's dominions 
beyond the sea/ 7 Even after immigration poured in 
upon us, the English stock was strong enough to impress 
upon the immigrating races its language, laws, and 
customs. Nevertheless, the incoming millions pro- 
foundly altered our racial structure. To-day over 
thirty-two million Americans are either foreign-born 
or of foreign parentage. No longer an Anglo-Saxon 
cousin, America has become the most composite of 
nations. 

America to-day is in transition. We have moved 
rapidly from one industrial world to another, and this 
progress has been aided and stimulated by immigration. 
The psychological change, however, which should have 
kept pace with this industrial transition, has been slower 
and less complete. It has been retarded by the very 
rapidity of our immigration and by the tremendous 
educational tasks which that influx placed upon us. 
The immigrant is a challenge to our highest idealism, 
but the task of Americanizing che extra millions of new- 
comers has hindered pi ogress in the task of democratiz- 
ing America. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Is there a settlement of foreign-born people near your 
home? 2. Is your attitude toward them friendly and helpful? 
3. What do you believe to be your duty in regard to them? 



190 AMERICANIZATION 

CAN DEMOCRACY BE ORGANIZED?* 
Edwin A. Alderman 

In order to organize an autocracy, the rulers ordain 
that it shall get in order and provide the means to bring 
about that end. To organize a democracy, we must 
organize its soul, and give it power to create its own 
ideals. It is primarily a peace organization, and that 
is proof that it is the forward movement of the human 
soul and not the movement of scientific reaction. It is 
through a severe mental training in our schools and a 
return to the conception of public duty which guided the 
sword and uplifted the heart of the Founder of the 
Republic that we shall find strength to organize the 
democracy of the future, revolutionized by science and 
by urban life. 

The right to vote implies the duty to vote right; the 
right to legislate, the duty to legislate justly; the right 
to judge about foreign policy, the duty to fight if neces- 
sary; the right to come to college, the duty to carry one's 
self handsomely at college. Our youth must be taught 
to use their senses, to reason simply and correctly, from 
exact knowledge thus brought to them to attain to 
sincerity in thought and judgment through work and 
patience. In our home and civic life, we need some 
moral equivalent for the training which somehow issues 
out of war — the glory of self-sacrifice, obedience to just 
authority, contempt of ease, and a realization that 
through thoughtful, collective effort great results will be 
obtained. A great spiritual glory will come to these 
European nations through their sorrow and striving 
which will express itself in great poems and great litera- 

*North Carolina Literary and Historical Society, November 9, 
1915. Reprinted by permission of the author. 



"THE LITEKAKY DIGEST" 191 

ture. They are preparing new shrines at which man- 
kind will worship. Let us take care that prosperity is 
not our sole national endowment. War asks of men 
self-denials and sacrifice for ideals. Peace must some- 
how do the same. Autocracy orders men to forget self 
for an over-self called the state. Democracy must 
inspire men to forget self for a still higher thing called 
humanity. 

There stands upon the steps of the Sub-Treasury 
building, in Wall Street, the bronze figure of an old 
Virginia country gentleman looking out with his honest 
eyes upon the sea of hurrying, gain-getting men. This 
statue is a remarkable allegory, for in his grave, thought- 
ful person, Washington embodies that form of public 
spirit, that balance of character, that union of force and 
justice that re-defines democracy. Out of his lips seems 
to issue the great creed which is the core of democratic 
society, and around which this finer organization shall 
be solidly built. Power rests on fitness to rule. Fitness 
to rule rests on trained minds and spirits. You can 
trust men if you will train them. The object of power 
is the public good. The ultimate judgment of mankind 
in the mass is a fairly good judgment. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Explain "The right to vote implies the duty to vote right." 
2. Where is Wall Street? 3. What self-denials and sacrifices 
for ideals must peace demand of us? 

AN IMMIGRANT WHO BECAME ONE OF 
OUR GREATEST BUILDERS* 

Thirty-years ago Louis J. Horowitz, an immigrant 
from an old world to the land of his new desire, gazed at 

*By permission of The Literary Digest. 



192 AMERICANIZATION 

the sky-line of New York from the deck of a ship. 
To-day he may look upon what he has added to that sky- 
line, for he is the builder of the Equitable and the Wool- 
worth buildings and of many others which, though high, 
do not reach so far up into the clouds. Mr. Horowitz, 
running true to form, was nearly sou-less and soupless 
when he reached American shores; but he had that grit, 
push, and determination which are often called American, 
but which are often, as in this case, imported products. 
The first thing he did was to find a job, that being a 
condition precedent to getting something to eat. He 
worked first as an errand boy, afterward as a parcel- 
wrapper, then as a stock boy, and then as a shoe sales- 
man. Selling shoes gave him the idea that he might be 
able to sell real estate, and at the age of twenty-three, 
five years after he had landed, this Russian-Polish boy 
embarked for himself as a real estate broker in Brooklyn. 
In a short time he was financing the erection of an apart- 
ment house, and soon afterward he became president of 
a Brooklyn brokerage firm which he himself incorpor- 
ated. While he was engaged on various real estate 
operations, the young man attracted the attention of the 
Thompson-Starrett Company, who offered him the post 
of assistant to the president. In less than a year the 
firm had undertaken important construction work, 
running into the millions. Everybody knows the Wool- 
worth and Equitable buildings, but few know the man 
who built them. 

When asked for some word to the younger generation 
that would help it to succeed in business, this genuinely 
self-made man replied: "Don't worry about success, 
it will come as surely as night follows day, to quote 
Shakespeare, if you attend to your own work conscien- 
tiously. Most young men just work sufficiently to earn 



SAMUEL GOMPERS 193 

money so that they can play around. Play should 
be an incident, not the aim of life." 

How Thoreau would have appreciated, and what a 
glowing account he could have penned of this "master 
builder !" You remember Thoreau tells how he awoke 
one night and what satisfaction it was to his soul to 
remember that the day before he had driven one nail 
straight. What would he have said of the huge Wool- 
worth and Equitable buildings, or of the little man that 
gave them form? 

Questions and Exercises 
1. What is a "self -made" man? 2. Who was Thoreau? 
3. Name men in American history who were "self-made." 

LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE* 
Samuel Gompers 

The trade unions are the legitimate outgrowth of 
modern society and industrial conditions. They are 
not the creation of any man's brain. They are organiza- 
tions of necessity. They were born of the necessity of 
the workers to protect and defend themselves from 
encroachment, injustice and wrong. They are the 
organizations of the working class, for the working class, 
by the working class ; grappling with economic and social 
problems as they arise, dealing with them in a practical 
manner to the end that a solution commensurate with the 
interests of all may be attained. 

From hand labor in the home to machine and factory 
labor witnessed the transition from the trade guilds to 

*Taken by permission from Labor and the Common Welfare, 
by Samuel Gompers. edited by Hayes Robbins, copyrighted by E. P. 
Dutton & Co., New York. 



194 AMEBICANIZATION 

the trade unions; with the concentration of wealth and 
the development of industry, the growth from the local 
to the national and the international unions, and the 
closer affiliation of all in a broad and comprehensive 
federation. 

There are some who, dissatisfied with what they term 
the slow progress of the labor movement, would have us 
hasten it by what they lead themselves to believe is a 
shorter route. No intelligent workman who has passed 
years of his life in the study of the labor problem, expects 
to wake up any fine morning to find the hopes of these 
years realized over night, and the world on the flood-tide 
of the millennium. With the knowledge that the past 
tells us of the slow progress of the ages, of trial and 
travail, mistakes and doubts yet unsolved; with the 
history of the working class bedewed with the tears of a 
thousand generations and tinged with the life-blood of 
numberless martyrs, the trade unionist is not likely to 
stake his future on the fond chance of the many millions 
turning philosophers in the twinkling of an eye. 

The trade unions not only discuss economic and social 
problems, but deal with them in a practical fashion calcu- 
lated to bring about better conditions of life to-day, and 
thus fit the workers for the greater struggles for ameliora- 
tion and emancipation yet to come. 

Trade unionism is not narrow. The locomotive engine 
is not "narrow" because it is not fitted to run on high- 
ways and by-ways and waterways as it is for railways, 
nor is the steamship "narrow" because it cannot be 
made to run on land. But steam, the motive power, can 
be so applied that it is effective on both land and water. 
An engine is adapted to a special use; steam in its applica- 
tions is universal. 

Similarly, a trade union is not a machine fitted to 



LEWIS B. AVEEY 195 

the work of directly affecting all the civic, social, and 
political changes necessary in society. But it first 
of all teaches the working classes the power of combina- 
tion. Thenceforward it disciplines them, leads them to 
perform tasks that are possible, and permits the members 
of any of its affiliated bodies to attempt any form of social 
experiment which does not imperil the organization as a 
whole. The spirit of combination has the immediate 
effects of self-confidence for the democratic elements in 
the unions, of growth in the loyalty of workingman for 
workingman, of constant progressive achievement not 
confined to restricted limits. It is therefore a motive 
power continuously and variously applicable as the 
masses move forward and upward in their individual 
and collective development. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. What statement in the first paragraph reminds you of an 
oft-quoted phrase used by Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address? 

2. What are the main arguments for and against labor unions? 

3. What evidence do you find in this selection that Mr.Gompers 
represents the more conservative element among labor leaders? 

A NEW HEAVEN* 
Lewis B. Avery 

I noted an Americanization lesson in home economics 
the other day. It was a neighborhood in which the 
parents were largely of foreign birth and where homes 
needed new and better ideals of home-keeping. We had 
installed no neighborhood school there. How should 
the real lesson in home-keeping be gotten over to the 
girls? The teacher was equal to the need. Miss 

*From School and Society of October 11, 1919. 



196 AMEKICAJSTIZATION 

Brown's little home was selected — a four-room cottage 
of most modest but immaculate furnishing. She was 
asked to help in giving this lesson in home-keeping and 
entered into the plan with joy. A committee of some 
ten girls was selected to visit and report to the class on 
home-keeping standards. The selection of the commit- 
tee was so made as to include some of those who would 
most need the visit. The sights in this modest home 
were new to some of these girls. Finished floors and 
rugs and carpets were examined and discussed with 
intense interest and costs ascertained. The plainest 
and cleanest of curtains were on the windows and were 
carefully inspected as to plan of construction and 
material. One girl was delighted to have the chance to 
push the electric light button for the first time and see 
the lights flash out. A number saw their first vacuum 
cleaner and operated it. One confided her verdict to her 
teacher in a whisper — "When I grow up and get married 
I am going to have a bedroom just like this one." It 
was impossible to keep the report till the class got 
together to hear it. It had been given in a dozen enthus- 
iastic conversations before its final formal submission. 
No equipment set up as a demonstration by the school 
could so enter the lives of these girls as this little home 
that has become their ideal, because seemingly at some 
time attainable. Said one girl, "If I should work and 
save for four years after I finish school I could furnish a 
house like this." This was after the cost of things had 
been discussed. 

In the ideals of the children lie any hope we may 
cherish for a better to-morrow. Moreover, the child 
is the gateway to the homes and the hearts of the 
parents the world over. The child is one of the great 
avenues to the Americanization of parents, and as such 



E. A. HAKLEY 197 

is used too little by teachers. The teacher too generally 
feels relieved if she may draw the line at the school 
door, but a group of great-souled teachers is responding 
to the call for Americanization, teachers of talent and 
power, devoted to this great end — the redemption of our 
foreign-speaking peoples, the assimilation of our new 
Americans — the uniting of the America of the past with 
the America that is to be. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. How can the boys in your school be taught a similar 
lesson in Americanization? 2. Why was Miss Brown's home 
selected for the lesson? 

CITIZENS OF TO-MORROW* 
E. A. Hanley 

What is the spirit of true Americanism? It is the 
spirit of the Pilgrims in New England, of the Baptists in 
Rhode Island, of the Quakers in Pennsylvania, of the 
Catholic settlers in Maryland, and the Huguenots in 
South Carolina. It is the spirit of Washington and 
Lincoln. America stands for more than a dollar sign. 
She represents the fairest ideals and some of the noblest 
sacrifices of any nation on the face of the earth. She 
represents opportunity for God and man. It was by a 
flash of genius that the gifted authoress Mary Antin, 
in telling the story of her coming to America and her 
experience here, called it "The Promised Land." All 
that Judea was to the Jews and the Jews to the world, 
America may be to us and we may be to our fellow-men. 
What we need supremely and what we must have to 

*From Proceedings Indiana State Teachers' Association, October, 
1916. 



198 AMERICANIZATION 

save us from the peril of our material greatness and to 
fulfill our mission to the world, is justice and brother- 
hood. With public spirit and cooperation ruling in 
civic and industrial relations, America may symbolize 
her mission to the world by the Goddess of Liberty hold- 
ing aloft her torch to guide pilgrim exiles from the ends 
of the earth. True Americanism is nothing less than the 
spirit of love and service working in the heart of this 
great nation. This can be done indirectly through the 
teaching of history, but it would seem that definite 
instruction must be given in the nature of society and 
the process of government. The fundamentals of 
economies, sanitation and political science are not 
beyond the comprehension of the youth in our high 
schools. If we are to make our public education a train- 
ing school for citizenship, the fundamental principles of 
these subjects could not wholly be omitted. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Who were the Huguenots? 2. What is the dollar sign? 
How was it derived? 3. What is the Goddess of Libert v? 



THE WORKING OF THE 

AMERICAN DEMOCRACY* 

Charles W. Eliot 

The people of this country have had three supreme 
questions to settle within the last hundred and thirty 
years: first, the question of independence of Great 
Britain; secondly, the question of forming a firm federal 
union; and thirdly, the question of maintaining that 
union at whatever cost of blood and treasure. In the 

*From American Contributions to Civilization. Copyright, 1907. 
The Century Company. Reprinted by permission. 



CHAELES W. ELIOT 199 

decision of these questions, four generations of men took 
active part. The first two questions were settled by a 
population mainly English; but when the third was 
decided, the foreign admixture was already considerable. 
That graver or more far-reaching political problems 
could be presented to any people, it is impossible to 
imagine. Everybody can now see that in each case the 
only wise decision was arrived at by the multitude, in 
spite of difficulties and dangers which many contem- 
porary statesmen and publicists of our own and other 
lands thought insuperable. It is quite the fashion to 
laud to the skies the second of these three great achieve- 
ments of the American democracy; but the creation of 
the federal union, regarded as a wise determination of a 
multitude of voters, was certainly not more remarkable 
than the other two. No government — tyranny or 
oligarchy, despotic or constitutional — could possibly 
have made wiser decisions or executed them more reso- 
lutely, as the event has proved in each of the three cases 
mentioned. 

It is said that democracy is fighting against the best 
determined and most peremptory of biological laws, 
namely, the law of heredity, with which law the social 
structure of monarchical and oligarchical states is in 
strict conformity. This criticism fails to recognize the 
distinction between artificial privileges transmissible 
without regard to inherited virtues or powers, and 
inheritable virtues or powers transmissible without 
regard to hereditary privileges. Artificial privileges will 
be abolished by a democracy; natural, inheritable vir- 
tues or powers are as surely transmissible under a 
democracy as under any other form of government. 
Families can be made just as enduring in a democratic 
as in an oligarchic state, if family permanence be desired 



200 AMERICANIZATION 

and aimed at. The desire for the continuity of vigorous 
families, and for the reproduction of beauty, genius, 
nobility of character is universal. "From fairest crea- 
tures we desire increase" is the commonest of sentiments. 
The American multitude will not take the children of 
distinguished persons on trust; but it is delighted when 
an able man has an abler son, or a lovely mother a lovlier 
daughter. That a democracy does not prescribe the 
close inter-marriage which characterizes a strict aris- 
tocracy, so-called, is physically not a disadvantage, but 
a great advantage for the freer society. The French 
nobility and the English House of Lords furnish good 
evidence that aristocracies do not succeed in perpetuating 
select types of intellect or of character. 



Questions and Exercises 

1. What is an oligarchy? 2. What governments to-day are 
despotic? 3. What is the House of Lords? 



THE HIGHER PATRIOTISM* 
Jane Addams 

There is one moral pit into which we continually fall, 
a sort of hidden pit which the devil digs for the feet of 
the righteous. It is that we keep on in one way because 
we have begun that way, and do not have presence of 
mind enough to change when that path is no longer the 
right one. The traditional way, the historic way, is the 
way the Romans used when they went forward into 
Europe and levied taxes and brought back to Rome all 

*From an address before the Thirtieth International Peace Con- 
ference, Chicago, 1904. Used by courtesy of the author. 



JAJNE ADDAMS 201 

their treasure and all their finest blood. That is the 
easiest way. 

But if we have the spirit of moral adventure, if we 
believe as we pretend to believe in America, in democracy 
then we shall be ready to take another course, even if it 
be much more difficult. People can no longer say that 
we do not believe in democracy in America, but they can 
say that we no longer trust democracy. Almost every 
state in Europe has established forts in Africa or Asia 
or some other place. But here in America is the place 
for experiment. Let us say, "We will trust the people 
although they are of a different color, although they are 
of a different tradition from ours. Perhaps we will be 
able through our very confidence, to nourish them into 
another type of government, not Anglo-Saxon. Perhaps 
we shall be able to. prove that some things that are not 
Anglo-Saxon are of great value, of great beauty. Let 
us not be like the men in commercial life, who say it is 
easy enough to go into a place after it has been swept 
clear by warships. You can force anything on natives 
when they have once been intimidated. But we must 
proceed in a different way, we must do our work on the 
hardest plane. We have a higher ideal than the old one 
which has been incorporated in the rule of first gaining 
government control by force and making things safe. 
I can imagine that most young men would say that they 
will not go into these new regions until a warship has gone 
first. The man with the courage would be the man who 
would prefer to go without the warships, just as the 
brave young man walks the street of a city without 
arms, while the coward carries brass knuckles and a 
revolver in his hip pocket. 

Let us see that this more dispassionate idea of self- 
government, this more modern idea of human life, begins 



202 AMERICANIZATION' 

with a few groups of people here and there. Let us 
declare that just as an individual shows signs of decay- 
when he loses his power of self -mortification, 'his power 
of self -surrender, when he begins to be cautious, when he 
begins to say, "I cannot do this thing because it may 
injure my future/' so it is with a nation. A nation 
ought to be able, in some way, to arrive at a proper 
conception of patriotism. The word "economic patriot- 
ism" will, I trust in future years come to have a meaning 
to us. We cannot afford to be too careful of our indivi- 
dual life. We must not forget that there is something 
in the old idea that the world is a theatre for noble 
action, and that nation which yearns for noble action 
will be the nation of the future, as the self-forgetting 
young person is sure to come out ahead of the person who 
is cautious at an early age. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Why is America the place for experiment? 2. What is 
meant by the term " Anglo-Saxon"? 



MOB LAW 

Abraham Lincoln 

In a speech portraying vividly the evils arising from 
mob law, Lincoln asks: 

"How shall we fortify against it?" The answer is 
simple. Let every American, every lover of liberty, 
every well-wisher to his posterity swear by the blood of 
the Revolution never to violate in the least particular 
the laws of the country, and never to tolerate their viola- 
tion by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did to the 
support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the 



ABBAHAM LINCOLN 203 

support of the Constitution and laws let every American 
pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor — let 
every man remember that to violate the law is to tram- 
ple on the blood of his father. Let reverence for the 
laws be breathed by every American mother to the lisp- 
ing babe that prattles on her lap; let it be taught in 
schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written 
in primers, spelling books, and in almanacs; let it be 
preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, 
and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it 
become the political religion of the nation; and let the 
old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and 
the gay of all sexes and tongues and colors and condi- 
tions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars. While even 
a state of feeling such as this shall universally or even 
very generally prevail throughout the nation, vain will 
be every effort, and fruitless every attempt, to subvert 
our national freedom. 

When I so pressingly urge a strict observance of all 
the laws, let me not be understood as saying there are no 
bad laws, or that grievances may not arise for the redress 
.of which no legal provisions have been made. I mean 
to say no such thing. But I do mean to say that although 
bad laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as 
possible, still, while they continue in force, for the sake 
of example they should be religiously observed. So also 
in unprovided cases. If such arise, let proper legal pro- 
visions be made for them with the least possible delay, 
but till then let them, if not too intolerable, be borne 
with. 

There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by 
mob law. In any case that ma} 7 arise, as, for instance, 
the promulgation of abolitionism, one of two positions 
is necessarily true — that is, the thing is right within 



204 AMERICANIZATION 

itself, and therefore deserves the protection of all law 
and all good citizens, or it is wrong and therefore proper 
to be prohibited by legal enactments; and in neither case 
is the interposition of mob law either necessary, justifi- 
able, or excusable. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Do you agree with Lincoln's argument? 2. Cite exam- 
ples to show the evil consequeDces of mob law. 

THE POWER OF A MINORITY IN 

EFFECTING REFORMS 

John B. Gough 

There is not a social, political, or religious privilege we 
enjoy to-day that was not bought for us by the blood 
and tears and patient sufferings of the minority. It is 
the minority that have vindicated humanity in every 
struggle. It is a minority that have stood in the van of 
every moral conflict and achieved all that is noble in the 
history of the world. The chosen heroes of this earth 
have been those who have stepped out in advance of the 
public sentiment of their age and stood, like glorious 
iconoclasts, to break down the Dagon of old abuses 
worshipped by their fathers. They were persecuted — 
the very men they worked for hurled at them contumely 
and scorn, yet they stood firmly at their post — and if you 
read the history of this world, you will find that one 
generation has ever been busy in gathering up the 
scattered ashes of the martyred heroes of the past to 
deposit them in the golden urn of a nation's history. 

Look at Scotland, where they are erecting monuments 
— to whom? to the Covenanters. Ah, they were in a 
minority. Read their history, if you can, without the 



FRANK 0. LOWDEN 205 

blood tingling to the tips of your fingers. Those were 
in a minority that, through blood, and tears, and boot- 
ings, and scourgings — dying the waters with their blood, 
and staining the heather with their gore — fought the 
glorious battle of religious freedom. 

Minority! If a man stands up for the right, though the 
right be on the scaffold, while the wrong sits in the 
seat of government, if he stand for the right, though he 
eat, with the right and truth, a wretched crust; though 
he walk with obloquy and scorn in the bylanes and 
streets, while the falsehood and wrong ruffle the avenues 
with silken attire, let him remember that wherever the 
right and truth are there are always "troops of beautiful, 
bright angels" gathered around him, and God Himself 
stands within the dim future keeping watch over His 
own. If a man stands for the right and the truth, 
though every man's finger be pointed at him, though 
every woman's lip be curled at him in scorn, he stands 
in a majority; for God and good angels are with him, 
and greater are they that are for him than all they that 
be against him. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. What do we mean by a "minority"? 2. Who were the 
Covenanters? 3. What is an iconoclast? 4. Who was 
Dagon? 

THE TYRANNY OF THE MAJORITY* 
Frank O. Lowden 

While it is true that ours is a government by the 
majority, it is something vastly more. When our fore- 

* Adapted from a speech before the New England Society, 
December, 1919. 



206 AMERICANIZATION" 

fathers met in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, to 
frame the Constitution they were familiar with the 
lessons of history. They knew that republics had risen 
and fallen throughout the centuries because of the 
tyranny practiced by the majority in those republics, 
and so they said there are some rights so sacred that they 
must be placed forever beyond the power of even the 
largest majority. So the liberty of the individual and 
those incalculable rights which we denominate in our 
Bill of Rights were made the basis of our government. 

Why, my friends, tyranny is just as odious to the 
American citizen whether it is practiced by a crowned 
monarch or whether it is practiced by a mob. Justice 
and righteousness were made the cornerstone of our 
government, and not the whim, the passing whim, of any 
majority, no matter how large. That is the thing which 
distinguishes the American Republic from all the 
republics of the past. That is the thing which has made 
us great and prosperous, and this is the thing which has 
made us an example to all the liberty loving people of 
all the world. 

I wonder if we realize just how much we mean as a 
people, not only to ourselves, but to all the world. I 
wonder if we realize what the force of our example has 
been. I wonder if we understand that this government 
has been the inspiration of every enlightened statesman 
in the world upon every measure looking to an enlarge- 
ment of human liberty. 

America has been a solace to the patriot dying in other 
lands, because, though he has fallen, his failing vision 
beholds as recompensing hope for his sacrifice, the flag 
of America, and he dies content in the faith bestowed by 
that symbol, that one day man shall be free throughout 
the earth. 





INDEPENDENCE HALL, 



ELBERT HUBBARD 209 

It has been said so often and it is everlastingly true, 
that America is the best and the last hope of mankind, 
and if we should fail, which God forbid, where in all the 
world may the broken spirit find refuge? Where beneath 
the shining heavens will there be found a haven for those 
who seek a land of liberty, a land of righteousness, a 
land of law? 

We will not fail! We cannot fail if we do our duty, 
but the time has passed when we can remain silent 
regarding these great fundamentals of government and 
permit the enemies of social order everywhere to occupy 
the center of the stage. The time has come when we 
must take issue with those who, infatuated with chaotic 
dreams, are seeking to undermine the bulwarks of 
government; when we can no longer refrain from exer- 
cising and proclaiming the truth — truth as virile to-day 
as it was a hundred years ago, that "eternal vigilance 
is the price of liberty." 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Do you believe in government by representation, in 
government by the majority? 2. Should not the rights of the 
minority, nevertheless, be represented? 3. Read "Party 
Spirit and Good Government," by Jefferson in this volume. 

A MESSAGE TO GARCIA* 

Elbert Hubbard 

When war broke out between Spain and the United 
States, it was very necessary to communicate quickly 
with the leader of the Insurgents. Garcia was some- 
where in the mountain fastnesses of Cuba — no one knew 
where. No mail or telegraph message could reach him. 

*By permission of The Roy crofters. 



210 AMERICANIZATION 

The president must secure his cooperation, and quickly. 

What to do? 

Some one said to the president, "There's ;a fellow by 
the name of Rowan will find Garcia for you, if anybody 
can." 

Rowan was sent for and given a letter to be delivered 
to Garcia. How "the fellow by the name of Rowan" 
took the letter, sealed it up in an oilskin pouch, strapped 
it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the 
coast of Cuba from an opentboat, disappeared into the 
jungle, and in three weeks came out on the other side 
of the island, having traversed a hostile country on foot, 
and delivered his letter to Garcia — are things I have no 
special desire now to tell in detail. 

The point I wish to make is this: McKinley gave 
Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia; Rowan took 
the letter and did not ask, "Where is he at?" By the 
Eternal! there is a man whose form should be cast in 
deathless bronze and that statue placed in every college 
of the land. It is not book-learning young men need, 
not instruction about this and that, but a stiffening of 
the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a 
trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies : do the 
thing — "Carry a message to Garcia!" 

General Garcia is now dead, but there are other 
Garcias. No man, who has endeavored to carry out an 
enterprise where many hands were needed, but has been 
well-nigh appalled at times by the imbecility of the 
average man — the inability or unwillingness to concen- 
trate on a thing and do it. And this incapacity for 
independent action, this moral stupidity, this infirmity 
of the will, this unwillingness to cheerfully catch hold 
and lift, are things that put pure Socialism so far into 






THEODOEE TILTON 211 

the future. If men will not act for themselves, what 
will they do when the benefit of their efforts is for all? 

My heart goes out to the man who does his work when 
the "boss" is away, as well as when he is at home. And 
the man who, when given a letter for Garcia, quietly 
takes the missive, without asking any idiotic questions, 
and with no lurking intention of chucking it into the 
nearest sewer, or of doing aught else but deliver it, never 
gets "laid off," nor has to go on a strike for higher wages. 
Civilization is one long, anxious search for just such 
individuals. Anything such a man asks shall be granted; 
his kind is so rare that no employer can afford to let him 
go. He is wanted in every city, town, and village — in 
every office, shop, store, and factory. The world cries 
out for such; he is needed, and needed badly — the man 
who can carry a message to Garcia. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Point out a flaw in Mr. Hubbard's argument in the next 
to the last paragraph. 2. Are not government directed institu- 
tions, as for instance the post-office, as efficient as private busi- 
nesses? 3. What is your own observation as to the need for 
such men as the author pleads? 



FREE SPEECH 

Theodore Tilton 

Free speech is not merely a spark from an eloquent 
orator's glowing tongue, even though his utterance has 
power to kindle men's passions or melt their hearts. 
Free speech is an eloquence above eloquence. It is an 
oratory of its own, and not every orator is its apostle. 

For many years a Carmelite monk touched the souls 



212 AMEEICANIZATION 

of men with the consolation of faith; and Paris, listening, 
said: "This is eloquence." Then, in that trial hour of 
his history, this same preacher, against the impending 
and dread anathema of Rome, exclaimed: "I will not 
enter the pulpit in chains !" And the world said : "Hark ! 
This is more than eloquence — it is Free Speech." Yes; 
eloquence is one thing and free speech is another. Open 
Macaulay's history. Lord Halifax was the chief silver 
tongue among a whole generation of English statesmen; 
but though he woke the ringing echoes of many a parlia- 
ment, and though wherever he went he carried a full 
mouth of fine English, yet never, in all his public career, 
did he utter as much free speech as John Hampden let 
loose in a single sentence, when he said: "I will not pay 
twenty-one shillings and sixpence ship money." 

Edward Everett leaves many speeches; Patrick Henry 
few. But the great word painter, who busied himself 
with painting the white lily of Washington's fame, never 
caught that greater language of free speech that burned 
upon the tongue of him who knew how to say : "Give me 
liberty or give me Death." 

Free speech is like the angel that delivered Saint Peter 
from prison. Its mission is to rescue from captivity 
some divinely inspired truth or principle, which unjust 
men have locked in dungeons or bound in chains. For 
thirty years the free speech of this country was conse- 
crated to one sublime idea : an idea graven on the bell of 
Independence, which says: "Proclaim liberty through- 
out the land, to all the inhabitants thereof." After 
thirty years' debate on human liberty, this idea is like 
Ophelia's rosemary: it is for remembrance; and it calls 
to mind the champions of free speech in New England. 
They are the choice master spirits of the age. Some of 
them have been hissed; others hailed; all shall be revered. 



BKUCE BAETON 213 

As the legend runs, Saint Hubert died and was buried. 
A green branch lying on his breast was buried with him; 
and when, at the end of a hundred years, his grave was 
opened, the good man's body had dissolved into dust, 
but the fair branch had kept its perennial green. So the 
advocates of free speech shall die and their laurels be 
buried with them. But when the next generation, wise, 
just, and impartial, shall make inquiry for the heroes, 
the prophets, and princely souls of this present age, long 
after their bones are ashes their laurels shall abide in 
imperishable green. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What is the difference between eloquence and free 
speech? 2. Who was the Carmelite monk? What did 
Macaulay write besides history? 3. Who is Ophelia? 



THE CONSERVATION OF PUBLIC SPEECH* 

At a public dinner some weeks ago five speakers were 
scheduled. It was agreed that each would speak for 
twenty minutes— a hundred minutes of oratory, all 
that any patient audience ought to be called upon to 
stand. The first man spoke twenty-two minutes. The 
second man spoke twenty-five. The third man ram- 
bled along for an hour and forty-four minutes ! 

The speaker has an unfair advantage over a writer. 
Any reader can, at any moment, decide that a thing is 
not worth reading, and move on. But no man rises in 
the middle of a public address, jams on his hat and 
stamps down the aisle. We are held by a certain con- 

*By permission of Bruce Barton, the author of the editorial 
"If There Were Only a Tax on Talk" in the Bed Book, May, 1920. 



214 AMERICANIZATION 

vention of courtesy; and nine speakers out of ten pre- 
sume upon that fact. 

Only once in a blue moon does a man arise and without 
a palaver, drive right to the point, making his statement 
in a few crisp words and sitting down before we are ready 
to have him stop. Such a one leaves us gasping with 
relief and admiration: we would, with the slightest 
encouragement, shout for him for president. He glistens 
in our memory; and we mention his name with a certain 
awe when the names of speakers are told. 

Brevity is so popular a virtue that I cannot under- 
stand why more speakers do not cultivate it. It is one 
of the keys to immortality. 

Two men spoke at Gettysburg on the same afternoon 
during the Civil War. One man was named Everett, 
the leading orator of his day; and he made a typically 
"great" oration. How many in this audience has ever 
heard it referred to, or could repeat a single line? 

The other speaker read from a slip of paper less than 
three hundred words. And Lincoln's Gettysburg address 
will live forever. 

Greeley used to say that the way to write a good 
editorial was to write it to the best of your ability, then 
cut it in two in the middle and print the last half. 

When a reporter complained to Dana that he could not 
possibly cover a certain story in six hundred words, 
Dana sent him to the Bible : 

"The whole story of the creation of the world is told 
in less than six hundred!" he exclaimed. 

Everything is taxed these days except talk; and no tax 
could be more popular from the standpoint of the patient 
consumer. The tax should be graded, like the income 
tax. Let speeches of five minutes or under be exempt; 
from five- to ten-minute speeches, ten per cent; ten to 



FRANKLIN HENRY GIDDINGS 215 

fifteen minutes, fifteen per cent; over thirty minutes, 
sixty per cent, with double taxes on speeches in Congress. 
Only by such rigorous treatment will the spoken word 
regain a position of respect, and silence receive the honor 
that is its due. 

There is one historical character who has fascinated 
me. His name was Enoch; the honor conferred upon 
him has been enjoyed by no other; yet his whole biog- 
raphy is written in less than twenty words. "And 
Enoch walked with God; and he was not; For God took 
him." 

So far as we know, he was the only man ever selected 
by the Almighty as a walking companion. And there is 
every indication that he was a man of very few words. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Who was Everett? Dana? Greeley? 2. In what book 
of the Bible is Enoch mentioned? Why should a speech be as 
brief as possible? 



THE TRUE AMERICAN— A CONSCIENTIOUS 

MAN* 
Franklin Henry Giddings 

The perfect citizen demanded by our own age and by 
our own nation can be characterized in a single phrase. 
The American who is worthy to be so called, the patriot 
on whom his country may depend in any hour of peril, 
the voter who will neither take the scoundrel's bribe nor 
follow the lead of any fool — he is exactly and fully 
described when we say that he is a conscientious man. 

*From Democracy and Empire. Copyright, 1900, The Macmillan 
Company. Reprinted by permission. 



216 AMERICANIZATION 

For such a man is, first of all, everything for which the 
word "man" stands in its truest emphasis. He is a virile, 
a personal force, an organism overflowing with splendid 
power, alert, fearless, able to carry to perfect fulfilment 
any undertaking preserving in his disposition and 
habits the best traditions of a pioneer manhood of those 
Americans of an earlier time who asked little and did 
much, who made homes and careers for themselves. He 
demands not too much of society or of his government. 
He does not expect to be provided for. He does not ask 
what ready-made places in the government service or 
elsewhere he may slip into to enjoy through life with 
little bother or anxiety. Rather does he explore, invent, 
and create opportunities for himself and for others. It 
is a melancholy thing when numbers of educated men go 
looking for "jobs," or stand waiting for opportunities 
to drift their way. The educated man has already had 
opportunity, and the world rightly expects him to show 
powers of initiative and leadership. He has no right to 
be a mere imitator of others; and when he is content 
to be such, there is something radically wrong either with 
him or with the college that has trained him. 

In the second place, the true American is a conscien- 
tious man. He feels as a vital truth that no one liveth 
to himself. When he has provided for his own, he does 
not think that he has accomplished the whole duty of 
man. He remembers that, although he has demanded 
little of society, he has in reality received much. Educa- 
tion, legal protection, the unnumbered benefits flowing 
from the inventions, the sacrifices, and the patriotism of 
past generations, he has shared. These benefactions he 
wishes to repay, and he realizes that most of them he 
must pay for through the activities of good citizenship. 
And especially does he realize that no man can pay these 



AECHBISHOP JOHN IRELAND 217 

debts by merely living justly in private life and kindly 
within the circle of his immediate family and personal 
friends. There is no more wretched sophistry than that 
which excuses unprincipled conduct in politics, on the 
ground that the wrong-doer has always been a good hus- 
band and father, and an honorable man in his private 
.affairs. No nation can endure which draws fine distinc- 
tions between public and private morality. There is only 
one kind of honor, there is only one recognized brand of 
common honesty. A man who, to servo his party, be- 
comes a liar and a thief, is a liar and a thief, through and 
through, in every fibre of his being, though he never told 
a falsehood to his wife or robbed an orphan niece of her 
inheritance. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What is sophistry? 2. Is there any distinction between 
public and private morality? 3. Why does Professor Giddings 
speak of honesty as common honesty? 

AMERICA, A WORLD POWER 

Archbishop John Ireland 

To do great things, to meet fitly great responsibilities, 
a nation like a person, must be conscious of its dignity 
and its power. The consciousness of what she is and 
what she may be has come to America. She knows that 
she is a great nation. To take its proper place among 
the others of the earth a nation must be known, as she is, 
to those nations. The world to-day admires and respects 
America. The young giant of the West, heretofore 
neglected and almost despised in his remoteness and 
isolation, is now moving as becomes his stature. The 
world sees what he is and pictures what he will be. All 



218 AMEKICANIZATION 

this does not happen by accident. An all-ruling Provi- 
dence directs the movements of humanity. 

To-day we proclaim a new order of things. America 
is too great to be isolated from the world around her and 
beyond her. She is a world power, to whom no world- 
interest is alien, whose voice reaches afar; whose spirit 
travels across seas and mountain ranges to most distant . 
continents and islands; and with America goes far and 
wide what America in her grandest ideal represents — 
democracy and liberty, a government of the people, by 
the people, for the people. This is American more 
than American territory, or American shipping, or 
American soldiery. Where this grandest ideal of Ameri- j 
can life is not held supreme, America has not reached 
complete self-mastery; where this ideal is supreme 
America reigns. The vital significance of America's j 
triumphs is not understood unless by those triumphs is/ 
understood the triumph of democracy and liberty. / 

That at times wonderful things come through war we 
must admit, but that they come through war and not 
through methods of peaceful justice, we must ever 
regret. When they do come through war their beauty 
and grandeur are dimmed by the memory of the suf- 
ferings anc| carnage, which were their price. We say in 
defense of [war! [that its purpose was justice, but is it 
worthy of Christian civilization that there is no other 
way to justice than war, that nations are forced to stoop 
to the methods of animals and the savage? Time was 
when individuals gave battle to each other in the name 
of justice; it was the time of social barbarism. Tribunals 
have since^taken to themselves the administration of 
justice, and how much better is it for the happiness and 
progress of mankind! 

It is force or chance that decides the battle. Justice 



GKOVER CLEVELAND 219 

herself is not heard. The decision of justice is what it 
was before the battle, the judgment of one party. Must 
we not hope that with the widening influence of reason 
and of religion among men, the day is approaching when 
justice shall be enthroned upon a great international 
tribunal, before which nations shall bow. demanding 
from it justice and peace? 

It was Wellington who said, "Take my word for it, if 
you had seen but one day of war you would pray to 
Almighty God that you might never see such a thing 
again." It was Napoleon who said, "The sight of a 
battlefield after the fight is enough to inspire princes with 
a love of peace and a horror of war." 

When shall humanity rise to such heights of reason 
and of religion that war shall be impossible, and stories of 
battlefields but the saddening echoes of primitive ages 
of the race? 

Questions and Exercises 
1. What important things have come to America through 
war? 2. Could these have been achieved through peace? 
3. Who was Wellington? 

EDUCATED MEN AND POLITICS* 
Grover Cleveland 

In a speech at the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary 
of the founding of Princeton University, President Cleve- 
land said: 

"The disposition of our people is such that while they 
may be inclined to distrust those who only on rare occa- 
sions come among them from a seclusion savoring of 
assumed superiority, they readily listen to those who 

*By courtesy of Frances F. Cleveland Preston. 



220 AMEKICANIZATION 

exhibit a real fellowship and a friendly and habitual 
interest in all that concerns the common welfare. Such 
a condition of intimacy would, I believe, not only improve 
the general political atmosphere, but would vastly 
increase the influence of our universities and colleges 
in their efforts to prevent popular delusions or correct 
them before they reach an acute and dangerous stage. 

"I am certain, therefore, that a more constant and 
active participation in political affairs on the part of our 
men of education would be of the greatest possible value , 
to our country. It is exceedingly unfortunate that 
politics should be regarded in any quarter as an unclean 
thing, to be avoided by those claiming to be educated 
or respectable. It would be strange indeed if anything 
related to the administration of our government or the 
welfare of our nation should be essentially degrading. I 
believe it is not a superstitious sentiment that leads to 
the conviction that God has watched over our national 
life from its beginning. Who will say that things worthy 
of God's regard and fostering care are unworthy of the 
touch of the wisest and best of men? 

"I would have those sent out by our universities and 
colleges not only the counselors of their fellow-country- 
men, but the tribunes of the people — fully appreciating 
every condition that presses upon their daily life, sympa- 
thetic in every outward situation, quick and earnest in 
every effort to advance their happiness and welfare, and 
prompt and sturdy in the defence of all their rights. 

"I have but imperfectly expressed the thoughts to 
which I have not been able to deny utterance on an 
occasion so full of glad significance and so pervaded by 
the atmosphere of patriotic aspiration. Born of these 
surroundings, the hope cannot be vain that the time is at 
hand when all our countrymen will more deeply appre- 



■ 






stiff 



S*. 



■ 




GROVER CLEVELAND 



IRVING BACHELLER 223 

ciate the blessings of American citizenship, when their 
disinterested love of their government will be quickened, 
when fanaticism and passion shall be banished from the 
fields of politics, and when all our people, discarding 
every difference of condition or opportunity, shall be seen 
under the banner of American brotherhood, marching 
steadily and unfalteringly on toward the bright heights 
of our national destiny/ ' 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What has been the most important factor improving the 
general political atmosphere since 1890? 2. Who was Grover 
Cleveland? 



COMMON SENSE* 
Irving Bacheller 

There are two kinds of sense in men — Common and 
Preferred, plain and fancy. The common has become 
the great asset of mankind; the preferred its great lia- 
bility. Our forefathers had large holdings of the com- 
mon, certain kings and their favorites of the preferred. 
The preferred represented an immense bulk of inherited 
superiority. It always drew dividends whether the 
common got anything or not. The preferred holders 
ran the plant and insisted that they held a first mortgage 
on it. When they tried to foreclose with military power 
to back them some of our forefathers got out. 

Now if the last three years have taught us anything 
it is this : The superman is going to be unsupered. Con- 
sidering the high cost of upkeep and continuous adula- 

*From a speech before the New England Society of New York 
City, December, 1917. 



224 AMEKICANIZATION 

tion he does not pay. He is in the nature of a needless 
tax upon human life and security. His mistakes even, 
to use no harsher word, have slaughtered more human 
beings than there are in the world. The born gentleman 
and professional aristocrat, with a hot air receiver on his 
name, who lives in a tower of inherited superiority and 
looks down at life through hazy distance with a tele- 
scope has and can have no common sense. His disposi- 
tion is above reproach; he is a brave soldier; he knows 
the habits of the grouse and the stag; he can give an 
admirable dinner; he is acquainted with the history and 
principles of international law; he can obey orders, but 
when international law becomes international anarchy 
and the orders are worthless he is not big enough to dis- 
obey them and find the way of common sense through 
an emergency. He has not that intimate knowledge of 
human nature which comes only of a long and close 
contact with human beings. Without that knowledge 
he will know no more of what is in the other fellow's 
mind and the bluff that covers it, in a critical clash of 
wits, than a baby sucking its bottle in a perambulator. 
He fails, and the cost of his failure no man can estimate. 
He stands, discredited. As a public servant, he is going 
into disuse and his going vindicates, at last, the judgment 
of our forefathers regarding like holders of sense pre- 
ferred. It is a long step toward democracy and the 
security of the world. 

My friends, be of good cheer. The God of our Fathers 
has not been Kaisered or Krupped or hurried in the least . 

The shouting and the tumult dies, 
The captains and the kings depart, 
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice, 
The humble and the contrite heart. 
Oh, God of Hosts, be with us yet, 
Lest we forget — lest we forget. 



IEVING BACHELLER 225 

Lest we forget that the spirit of man has been lifted 
up out of the mud and dust of the battle lines, out of the 
body tortured with pain and weariness and vermin, out 
of the close companionship of the dead into high associa- 
tion on the bloody altar of liberty and sacrifice. 

Lest we forget the high spirit of our own boys and 
our duty to put our house in order and make it a fit 
place for them to live in when they shall have returned 
to it from battlefields, swept, as a soldier has written, by 
the cleansing winds of God. 

PRIVATE GODS THE WORST ENEMIES OF 

DEMOCRACY* 

Irving Bacheller 

It had been going on almost a quarter of a century in 
France, England, Italy, Germany and America. Sud- 
denly the king of all the kings appeared. 

He was richer than most of them. He had more 
power than all of them put together. He had grown 
out of the same roots of idleness, conceit and self- 
indulgence; He had seventy million employees — think 
of that! His enjoyments were as private as those of an 
octopus. He had his own private army and navy, his 
own churches and colleges. He trained a corps of 
private historians and philosophers, he bribed priests 
and suborned prophets with his money, and frightened 
honest men into silence with his power. Thus he began 
to teach his seventy million employees that might was 
right. 

By and by William decided that he would have the 
earth for his own private world — a kind of private 

*Adapted from an article in Everybody's Magazine, March, 1920. 
Used by permission of the author. 






226 AMEEICANIZATION 

yacht sailing the infinite deep with every one thrown 
overboard or hustled into the fo'castle save those who 
wanted him for captain. Human conceit and selfish- 
ness had come to their logical and prodigious climax in 
this man. We hated him and all that he stood for, but 
let us not forget that he was the consummation of the 
tendencies of modern life, of its greed and selfishness — 
that he was the perfect flower of all the private god- 
holders. The last rung in the ladder of conceit and self- 
indulgence had lifted him above the crowd and the spirit 
of democracy. 

For long he had been sowing the seed of that hatred 
which we feel. Then came the years of reaping in 
vindication of the one God who, it would seem, will have 
no other gods before Him; then came the bloody years 
against whose darkness we now read the shining legend: 
"Thou shalt not forget the law." Out of the silence of 
twenty million graves the blood of the slain cries out to 
the living: "Thou shalt not frown upon thy neighbor 
or live apart in ignorance of his needs or misuse him or 
seek to cry him down with your degeneracy and turn 
his heart into a den of leopards." 

Now are we not face to face with the great lesson of 
the war? Every man who builds a private god and 
lives with little care for his neighbors and regards his 
misbehavior as his own business is a little William and a 
peril to the world. 

Civilization is founded on the intelligence and virtues 
of the common folk. We must build up and protect 
these sacred things or democracy will go down the path 
of darkness and ruin. Those who stand in high places, 
crowned with success, are the leaders and exemplars of 
the crowd — keepers of the great treasure. 

Now, too, we are face to face with the fundamental 



THEODOEE ROOSEVELT 227 

ideal of American democracy. It is no new discovery. 
It is very old and yet the divinity that dwells in it 
groweth not old nor can it be slain in battles. It is 
nothing more nor less than the love of men which leads 
to education and respect for justice and good-will and 
honor in all and for all. 

I would like to see a legend to this effect on every 
study wall in the land : 

"Remember, oh, young man, in the days of your youth, 
remember that there is one thing vastly greater than any 
individual can hope to be. It is the spirit of man 
endowed with the wisdom of the innumerable dead and 
expressing itself in the civil and moral law. The degree 
of a man's respect for that law has been and ever will 
be the test of his mental soundness. Remember, too, 
that while it is a pleasant thing to have power and riches, 
this world has never seen so hard a master." 



CLEAN POLITICS* 

Theodore Roosevelt 

To have clean politics, you have got to have the bulk 
of the community interested in a common sense way 
in getting them. If you get together and ask for reform 
as if it was a concrete substance like cake, you are not 
going to get it. If you think you have performed your 
duty by coming together once in a public hall about 
three weeks before election and advocating something 
that you know perfectly well it is impossible to get, you 
are going to be fooled. You have got to work and you 
have got to work practically; and you have got to 

* Adapted from an address before the Chamber of Commerce, 
Syracuse, New York, February 17, 1899. 



22S AMERICANIZATION 

remember that to be practical does not mean to be foul. 
A man must strive continually to make things a little 
better; put things on a little higher plane. But he has 
got to remember the instruments with which he works; 
he has got to remember the men with whom he serves. 

In the first place, he cannot do anything if he doesn't 
work as an American. You meet a certain number of 
good people who will tell you continually how much 
better things are done abroad than here. Well, I doubt 
if they are right, but I don't care if they are. You have 
got to deal with what we have got here, and you cannot 
do anything if you do not work as an American. You 
have got to work in sympathy with the people around 
you. 

In the next place you have got to feel as an American 
in other ways. You have got to have ingrained the 
genuine democracy, the genuine republicanisms of our 
institutions, of our form of government and habits. 
We cannot accomplish reform by the aid of merchant 
and manufacturer and business man alone. We have 
got to get reform by working for the eternal principles of 
right, shoulder to shoulder, with all who believe in those 
principles, so that the mechanic and the manufacturer, 
the farmer and the hired man, the banker, the clerk and 
the artisan will stand shoulder to shoulder to strive for 
the same purpose, for the same ideal. 

I ask you then to strive for clean politics, not by pro- 
fessing your devotion to the cause on one night or another 
night of the year, but by taking more active, steady 
interest in bettering our politics. I ask you to strive 
for them, not by refusing to recognize conditions as they 
are, but by recognizing them and then trying to make 
them better; not to delude yourself into the belief that 
you need not strive to better matters. Remember that 



DON D. LESCOHIEB 229 

if you do not strive to make things a little higher you 
had better get out of politics. If you are only content 
to keep step with the mass of your people round about, 
why then you do not count one way or the other. 

I ask you to work for decent politics, to work for clean 
politics, to work in practical ways, not promise more than 
you can perform, but holding ever before you, that if you 
wish to see this Republic continue a free and great 
Republic and if you wish to see America take her proper 
place among the nations of the earth, you must make up 
your minds to the fact that you can see it only when each 
American remains true to the steadfast idea of honesty, 
of courage, of manliness in civic no less than in social 
life. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Does Roosevelt use "got" correctly in his first sentence? 
2. Does his use of "got" throughout this selection add force to 

his style? Purists would call his use of "got" in several of his 
sentences ungrammatical. Less exacting stylists would term 
them idiomatic. Consult your dictionaries and grammars with 
reference to the use and meaning of "got." 3. Purists would 
insist on the use of "were" for "was" in the second sentence. 
^Yhy? "Were" is less forceful than "was" because it is subjunc- 
tive, and this mode of the verb is rapidly disappearing from our 
language. 

AMERICANIZATION, WHAT IS IT? 
Dox D. Lescohier 

Americanization in the United States, and Canadian- 
izaticn in Canada, differ fundamentally in their spirit, 
method, and purpose from the efforts of Germany to 
Germanize Poland, Schleswig-Holstein, and Alsace- 
Lorraine; of Austria to Austrianize the Czechs and 
Croats; and of Turkey to suppress the nationalism of the 



230 AMEBICANIZATION 

Armenians. The Central Powers tried to crush the 
national cultures and customs of peoples over whom, 
they had acquired power by force of arms. They con- 
tinually subjected them to the efforts of conquerors who 
sought to suppress the language and traditions that had 
obtained in the acquired territories, and to compel the 
use of the language, government, and culture of the 
conqueror. 

Americanization has nothing in common with such 
efforts as these. It is an effort to assist the alien among 
us to understand, appreciate, and partake of the best in 
American life and thought. It is an effort to provide 
facilities that will enable him to become an integral part 
of America and its life. It is a movement to help him 
share the privileges and benefits that a democracy offers 
to its people, and to fit him for his responsibilities as a 
citizen in a democratic commonwealth. It aims to 
help him know our national life; to help him make our 
traditions, heroes, and ideals his; to inspire in him a love 
for America and what it stands for; to win his heart to 
the things we love. 

But Americanization is more than this. It is as neces- 
sary for Americans to understand the peoples who have 
come to them from foreign lands as for these people to 
become acquainted with America. Every people whose 
feet have pressed our soil has brought to us traditions, 
customs, capacities, ideals, and personal qualities which 
are of inestimable value to America. Each race or 
nationality, when it first came to our shores, had to start 
at the bottom of the economic ladder. Each one's 
capacity was undervalued by the American during the 
early years of its immigration to America, because it had 
to rely principally upon common labor for a livelihood 



DON D. LESCOHIEE 231 

while it was learning our language and customs and fitting 
itself into our national life. The indifference and hardly- 
disguised contempt which a large number of Americans 
felt toward the Italian or the Slav during the twenty-five 
years from 1890 to the outbreak of the war was experi- 
enced in earlier years by the Irishman, and in many 
parts of the country, by the German, Scandinavian, and 
Belgian. It is as necessary to help the American under- 
stand the newcomer and appreciate the contribution 
which he will make to our national life as to help the 
immigrant understand the American. 

There is another point which Americans must be 
taught to remember. Every alien who comes to America 
comes here because he believes that America is a better 
place to live than his homeland. He comes here hopefully, 
expectantly, eagerly. He comes here in a receptive 
mood. The only reason that alien propaganda has been 
able to retain a hold on part of the immigrants has been 
that we have failed to provide them with proper educa- 
tional, industrial, and social opportunities to become a 
real part of our life. They have not found us responsive, 
and their enthusiasm has been chilled. They have 
concluded that we did not care about them. American- 
ization must teach the American to value the people 
who have come to us, and cause him to assist the alien 
to enter into the privileges and duties of America's 
adopted sons. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. In what western state are two languages spoken in the 
legislature, making interpreters necessary for legislators who 
cannot speak a word of the English language? Is this a whole- 
some condition of affairs? (N. B. The state herein referred to 
is New Mexico.) 



232 AMEBICAXIZATIOX 

THE DUTY OF CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP* 
T. Dewttt Talmadge 

Ephesus was upside down. The manufacturers of 
silver boxes for holding heathen images had collected 
their laborers together to discuss the behavior of one 
Paul, who had been in public places assaulting image 
worship, and consequently very much damaging their 
business. There was great excitement in the city. Peo- 
ple stood in knots along the streets, violently gesticula- 
ting and calling one another hard names. Some of the 
people favored the policy of the silversmiths; others the 
policy of Paul. Finally they called a convention — "for 
conventions have been the panacea of evil in all ages." 
When they assembled they all wanted the floor, and all 
wanted to talk at once. Some wanted to denounce, 
some to resolve. At last the convention rose in a body, 
all shouting together, till some were red in the face and 
sore in the throat: "Great is Diana of the Ephesians; 
Great is Diana of the Ephesians !" Well, the whole 
scene reminds me of the excitement we witness at the 
autumnal elections. While the goddess Diana has lost 
her worshippers, our American people want to set up a 
god in place of it, and call it political party. While there 
are true men, Christian men, standing in both political 
parties, who go into the elections resolved to serve their 
city, their state, their country, in the best possible way, 
yet in the vast majority it is a question between the 
peas and the oats. One party cries: "Great is Diana of 
the Ephesians!" and the other cries: "Great is Diana of 
the Ephesians!" when, in truth, both are crying, if they 

*See Acts XIX :21-41 



T. DEWITT TALMADGE 233 

were but honest enough to admit it: "Great is my 
pocketbook." 

What is the duty of Christian citizenship. If the 
Norwegian boasts of his home of rocks; and the Siberian 
is happy in his land of perpetual snow; and if the Roman 
thought the muddy Tiber was the favored river of 
Heaven; and the Chinese pities everybody born out of 
the Flowery Kingdom, shall not we, in this land of 
glorious liberty, have some thought and love for country . 
There is a power higher than the ballot box, the guberna- 
torial chair or the president's house. To preserve the 
institutions of our country we must recognize this power 
in our politics. See how men make every effort to clam- 
ber into higher positions, but are cast down. God 
opposes them. Every man, every nation that proved 
false to Divine expectation, down it went. God said to 
Bourbon, "Remodel France and establish equity." It 
would not do it. Down it went. God said to the house 
of Stuart: "Make the people of England happy." 
It would not do it. Down it went. He said to the house 
of Hapsburg: "Reform Austria and set the prisoners 
free." It would not do it. Down it went. He says 
to men now: "Reform abuses, enlighten the people, 
make peace and justice to reign." They don't do it, and 
they tumble. How many wdse men will go to the polls, 
high with hope, and be sent back to their firesides. God 
can spare them. If He could spare Washington before 
free government was tested, Howard while tens of thou- 
sands of dungeons had been un visited, and Wilberforce 
before the chains had dropped from millions of slaves, 
then Heaven can spare another man. The man who, for 
party, forsakes righteousness, goes down; and the bat- 
talions of God march over him. 



234 AMEKICANIZATION 

SCHOOL ACTIVITIES AND 
PUBLIC SERVICE* 

William McAndkew 

Many high schools maintain general organizations 
and special clubs — glee clubs, athletic teams, orchestras, 
and dramatic societies. Is membership in these capable 
of developing consideration for others? Are there any 
schoolboys who are too selfish to make the reasonable 
sacrifices necessary to pay their regular periodic dues 
for the support of such societies? Does it not seem 
as though a glee club, a dramatic club, or an athletic 
team might be justified as affording exercise in adding 
to the happiness of a large company of spectators? High 
school organizations quite generally get as far as that. 
They awaken an individual to do something for a larger 
interest than one's own. Critics of high schools urge us 
to go further than this. They say that we make a great 
ado about cultivating class spirit and school spirit, but 
with no definite object except class spirit or school spirit. 
It evaporates in class yells or school songs or in the wear- 
ing of colors or pins. It makes what is sometimes called 
the "rah-rah boy." 

Some would-be philosopher asked Socrates to describe 
his idea of "the good." 

"Good for what?" asked Socrates. 

"Oh, I don't mean it that way. I mean the abstract 
idea of the good." 

"I know what is good for a cold," said Socrates, "and 
good for a sore foot; but if you mean good for nothing in 
particular, I neither know nor careto know of any such 
thing." 

*From an article in The Outlook, April 14, 1920. Used by per- 
mission. 



WILLIAM McANDREW 235 

A school that uses its glee clubs, its orchestra, and other 
such organizations regularly and often for the actual 
good of some interest wider than the school; an organiza- 
tion that gives concerts for the benefit of a city hospital, 
or a flower guild, or a National Child Labor Committee, 
or any one of the numerous general welfare agencies 
which are all about us, is training Americans for public 
welfare, is it not? What public service wider than the 
advantage to itself has the individual school done? 

During the war school boys and girls rendered personal 
service for the general welfare. The majority of thinking 
citizens now realize that this is the best kind of fitting for 
citizenship. The old idea of school as a training for life 
later on is being replaced by the proposal that school 
should be life itself. We are living now. We are 
Americans now. You who are in school should not put 
off American action until after you leave school; but you 
should form the habit of thinking and acting public- 
mindedly now, while you are being supported by the 
public. You should give while you are receiving. 
Those who conduct your school provide that you shall 
salute your country's flag, sing patriotic songs, and learn 
patriotic quotations. This is good. When a schoolboy 
writes a patriotic oration, he exhorts his hearers to be 
real patriots. This is good. But if these things end in 
exhorting others or in mere words, it is lip service. How 
much is it worth? 



Questions and Exeecises 
1 . Is the "rah-rah boy" the predominant type in your school? 
2. How can your school activities be used for community 
service? 



236 AMEKICANIZATION 

THE IMMIGRANTS— OURSELVES* 
Fred C. Butler 

We hear much to-day about Americanization but 
there seems to be a great deal of confusion regarding it. 
Some advocate driving out of the country all who fail 
to become Americanized within a short time. Others 
insist we must make them stop talking in any language 
but English. 

In all this confusion of counsels I am often reminded 
of the Irishman who was asked by a stranger how to 
reach a certain nearby town which was almost inacces- 
sible. The Irishman scratched his head for a minute 
and finally said: "If I was you I wouldn't start from 
here." 

Before we can reach Americanization we must know 
just what we mean by the term. It is a very simple 
thing. May I explain my conception of it in the fol- 
lowing way? 

America is almost unique among the nations. It is 
one of the few countries without a native population. 
All the people in America are of foreign parentage save 
only the Indians. The only difference between the 
various people is the length of time they or their families 
have lived here. Some trace their arrival to the first 
trip of the Mayflower and others to the last trip of the 
Mauretania. 

We are all of us foreign born or of foreign parentage. 
We all came to this new land to secure a fuller measure of 
life — greater political or religious freedom ; greater oppor- 
tunity for mental or physical advancement, greater 
rewards for our efforts. 

*By permission of the General Federation Magazine , Inc. 



FEED C. BUTLEK 237 

From the very first America became a thing apart, a 
new idea in this matter of life. The physical dangers 
into which the first settlers were thrust developed a 
peculiar initiative; engendered a common courage, a 
resourcefulness that met new conditions without fear or 
hesitation. The dangers and the vastness of the empire 
drove the few inhabitants together for mutual help 
and protection. Governments were instituted, rough, 
uncouth, but just. Men were all equals. The great 
opportunities provided ample field for the ambitions of 
all, encouraging harmony. The common danger kept 
men together, encouraging organization. 

Perhaps no better mould could be conceived in which 
to cast a race. For two hundred years this process went 
on. As the dangers of the primeval were conquered in 
one zone, a new tide of hardy pioneers moved westward 
to meet and overcome new obstacles. In such a field 
a new race was bred. Small wonder that it differed from 
all the other races of earth from which it sprang. New 
ideas of human brotherhood; theories of government; 
visions of the rights of men, were the natural fruits of 
such a soil. So gradually there came into being that 
which we call the American ideal. Who shall define it? 
As well try to define truth, purity, justice. Any defini- 
tion however broad would serve only to limit it. 

As this ideal began to take form, men from all over 
the world were attracted to it. As it was threatened 
from time to time, men from nations everywhere came 
to its defense. The soil of America was sanctified by 
the bravest blood of England, France, Poland, Italy, 
yea, of Germany; of many nations. 

The story of America spread through the world. 
The hearts of oppressed men everywhere beat with new 



238 AMERICANIZATION 

life as they heard of this strange country where men's 
liberties were limited only by their rights. 

America itself may be likened to one of its own com- 
munities. The first vanguard of pioneers chose a site 
and cleared an opening in the forest. Log houses grew 
up. Men established trades to serve their fellows. The 
church and the school came at once, created and sup- 
ported by the labor of all. As newcomers chose to cast 
their lots with the new community the pioneers turned 
out to help them erect their homes. The addition of a 
new home was marked by a house warming that was the 
ceremony which welcomed the newcomer into full com- 
munity fellowship. A helping hand was extended to the 
new family until they could sow and reap a harvest. 
Seed was -loaned them. The community's scant hoard 
of flour and meal was theirs until they could, in turn, 
contribute to its stock. The older residents showed their 
new friends where the best fish were caught, where the 
purest water flowed. Their children were welcomed 
into the schools. 

This process was true Americanization. It was the 
assimilation of the newcomer into the brotherhood. 
Each new candidate brought trades, arts, knowledge, 
customs which enriched the whole. The freedom of the 
prairie, the simple and unaffected life, the love of liberty, 
these were the screens which sifted out the worthy from 
the dross, so that there grew up an ideal which was fair 
and just and noble. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. Does this account of past events apply to conditions to- 
day? 2. How does the changed character of the newer im- 
migrants affect the problem of assimmilation? 



FKEDEKIC SIEDENBEEG 239 

THE AMERICANIZATION PROBLEM* 

Frederic Siedenburg 

The story of America is not told in the story of the 
Pilgrim Fathers; it is not told by the battles of Yorktown 
or Gettysburg or the Argonne; it is not told in the states- 
manship of our Jeffersons or in the poetry of our Bryants 
or the philosophy of our Brownsons, or even in the inven- 
tions of our Edisons. These are but isolated expressions 
of our spirit, our yearnings and our achievements of 
higher things; these have been made possible and have 
only come to pass because since the dawn of our nation 
thirty-five million souls have sought our shores to build 
here their firesides and their altars, and to cast their 
fortunes with the fortunes of free America. 

To-day for the first time in our history Americans are 
asked to Americanize themselves and to change their 
narrow attitude toward their foreign-born neighbors. 
For the first time Americans are becoming aware that 
they have in their midst thirteen millions of foreign-born 
human beings who will be assets or liabilities in propor- 
tion as the native-born appreciate or neglect them. 

The practical programs of Americanization insist on 
campaigns of publicity, on the teaching of English and 
citizenship, of factory-schools, and of a wider use of 
public agencies and libraries. To this end the school, 
the settlement house, and the church are invited to do 
their share; and well they may, for the work is urgent, 
and these are obviously the first steps in the program. 
They are good as far as they go; but if we look into the 
matter more closely, we find that they are but palliatives 

*From an article in The Rotarian for June, 1920. With permission 
of the author. 






240 AMEEICANIZATION 

or the second best thing, and that the real remedy must 
be sought in something more fundamental. 

If we are serious and really wish to make our foreign 
born real Americans, let us throw aside our national 
sham, our economic and our social sham and try to 
make America what the foreigner thought it was before 
he came into our midst. Let us give the foreign born 
an American standard of living and we will at once solve 
90 per cent of our problem; give him a living wage, 
safeguard his health by factories and sanitary housing; 
give him a chance to work without the exploitation of 
demagogue, capitalist or labor leader; give him and his 
children a chance to play — opportunities for wholesome 
recreation. Give him the essentials of education and 
make adult education as compulsory as that of the 
child. 

Last but not least give him a chance at the higher 
things of life, the good, the beautiful, and the true. Do 
this and you give him an American standard of living, 
and automatically, by a natural evolution, he will learn 
the English language, he will cease to live apart, he will 
really live and not just exist, and he will be conscious of 
the benefits of American life and institutions. There 
will be no need of pressure from without; economic and 
social conditions will lift him out of the slums into better 
neighborhoods, will give his children a better education, 
will give him an appreciation of America and its spirit, 
and lo ! he will be an American second to none. America 
will then and then only be the true melting pot, and, as 
Zangwill well says: 

"The East and the West, North and South the palm 
and the pine, the pole and the equator, the Crescent 
and the Cross — how the great Alchemist melts and fuses 
them with his purging flame! Here shall they all unite 



PHILANDEK C. KNOX 241 

to build the Republic of man and the Kingdom of God. 
Ah, what is the glory of Rome and Jerusalem where all 
nations and races come to worship and look back com- 
pared with the glory of America, where all races and 
nations come to labor and look forward!" 



Questions and Exercises 

1. Do you agree with the idea expressed in the first para- 
graph? 2. How is the foreign-born laborer exploited by the 
demagogue, capitalist, or labor leader? 3. Who is Zangwill? 
4. Can you orally interpret the full force of the antithesis con- 
tained in the closing sentence? 



INTERNATIONAL UNITY* 
Philander C. Knox 

"We now know that freedom is a thing incompatible 
with corporate life and a blessing probably peculiar to 
the solitary robber; we know besides that every advance 
in richness of existence, whether moral or material, is 
paid for by a loss of liberty; that liberty is man's coin 
in which he pays his way; that luxury and knowledge 
and virtue, and love and the family affections are all so 
many fresh fetters on the naked and solitary freeman." 

This was said by a distinguished writer referring 
to the individual units who have constructed the po- 
litical systems under which society is organized. It 
applies with equal truth to the governments they 
have created. Every material and moral advance in 
the sodality of nations, for universal, as distinguished 
from local or domestic purposes, is achieved by con- 
cessions restraining to a greater or less degree the liberty 

*From an address delivered before the Pennsylvania Society of 
New York, December, 1909. 



242 AMEEICANIZATION 

of action of individual states for the benefit of the com- 
munity of nations and in obedience to the demands of 
an international public opinion. 

These concessions to international unity have been 
brought about through international conference, con- 
gresses, associations and meetings, covering such a wide 
range of the material needs and moral aspirations of 
nations, as to make it quite impossible even to specify 
them and their purpose with any particularity. Broadly 
speaking, however, they have been designed to establish 
common policies in large political and economic affairs, 
to secure cooperation in the promotion of international 
harmony, to assuage human hardships, to elevate the 
morals of the world, and to secure the blessings of uni- 
form and enlightened justice. 

"Nations have been brought together by material 
forces, starting into action greater immaterial forces. 
Electricity is finishing what steam began. Men come 
close together who breathe a common intellectual atmos- 
phere; who are fed daily by the same currents of thought; 
who hear simultaneously of the same events; who are 
eager to disclose to each other whatever new thing, 
coming to the knowledge of any, is worthy the notice 
of all." 

The disposition, then, to take concerted international 
action grows with the opportunity thus afforded by the 
marvelous modern development in the means of com- 
munication. Each nation instantaneously feels the com- 
pulsion of the public opinion of all nations. Compare, 
for example, modern exchanges of views between govern- 
ments, swiftly reaching a common basis of action and 
resulting increasingly in ends beneficent to the whole 
world, with former ignorance and mutual suspicions 
largely due to ignorance, resulting in no common action 



JOHN HAY 243 

and permitting aggressions and abuses by single nations 
or small groups which to-day the concert of all nations 
protests against more and more loudly and less and less 
tolerates. 

Then, just as individuals and separate nations advance 
in the fruits of civilization and display in their conduct- 
higher regard for honesty and justice and peace, and less 
tolerance for wrong and oppression and cruelty, so these 
ideals of private and national conduct are manifestly 
inspiring all nations in their relations with each other. 
As nations understand each other better and the world 
draws closer together in the recognition of a common 
humanity and conscience, of common needs and pur- 
poses, there is carried into the international field the 
insistent demand for greater unity in enforcing every- 
where the principles of a high morality and, by restraints 
mutually applied and observed, all the human ameliora- 
tions without which both national and international life 
would soon fall into anarchy and decadence. 

Questions and Exercises 

1 . Is it true that freedom is a blessing c 'peculiar to the solitary 
robber"? 2. What things have drawn nations closer together? 



THE PRESS AND MODERN PROGRESS* 
John Hay 

Of all the phenomena of the last hundred years there 
is none more wonderful than that increase of useful 
knowledge which has led inevitably to a corresponding 

*Address at the opening of the Press Parliament of the World, 
at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, May 19, 1904. 



244 AMERICANIZATION 

increase in mutual toleration and esteem. The credit 
of this great advance in civilization belongs to the press 
of the world. It is true that it is the modest boast of 
modern diplomacy that its office is the removal of mis- 
understandings — that so far as intentions go its ways 
are pleasantness and its paths are peace ; but how slight 
are the results that the best intentioned diplomat can 
attain in this direction compared with the illuminating 
blaze of light which the press each morning radiates on 
the universe? We cannot claim that the light is all of 
one color nor that there are not many angles of refrac- 
tion but from this endless variety of opinion and asser- 
tion truth at last emerges and every day adds something 
to the world's knowledge of itself. There is a wise 
French proverb, "To understand is to pardon/' and 
every step of progress which the peoples of the earth 
make in their comprehension of each others conditions 
and motives is a step forward in the march to the goal 
desired by men and angels, of universal peace and 
brotherhood. 

The highest victory of great power is that of self- 
restraint and it would be a beneficent result of this 
memorable meeting, this ecumenical council of the press. 
If it taught us all — the brethren of this mighty 
priesthood — that mutual knowledge of each other which 
should modify prejudices, acerbity of thought and 
expression, and tend to some degree to bring in that 
blessed time. 

"When light shall spread, and man be like man 
Through all the seasons of the Golden Year." 

Integrity, industry, the intelligent adaptation of 
means to ends, are everywhere the indispensable condi- 
tions of success. Honest work, honest dealing, these 
qualities mark the winner in every part of the world. 




JOHN HAY 



GEORGE W. CURTIS 247 

The artist, the poet, the artisan and the statesman, 
they everywhere stand or fall through the lack or the 
possession of similar qualities. How shall one person 
hate or despise another when we have seen how like us 
they are in most respects, and how superior they are in 
some. Why should we not revert to the ancient wisdom 
which regarded nothing human as alien, and to the words 
of Holy Writ which remind us that the Almighty has 
made all men brethren? 

Let us remember that we are met to celebrate the 
transfer of a vast empire from one nation to another 
without the firing of a shot, without the shedding of 
one drop of blood. If the press of the world would adopt 
and persist in the high resolve that war should be no 
more, the clangor of arms would cease from the rising 
of the sun to its going down, and we could fancy that 
at last our ears, no longer stunned by the din of armies, 
might hear the morning stars singing together, and all 
the sons of God shouting for joy. 

Questions and Exercises 
1. What is an ecumenical council? 2. Why was the Louis- 
iana Purchase Exposition held in 1904? 

THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN 
George W. Curtis 

In the course of an address delivered at the celebration 
of the completion of the twenty-fifth academic year of 
Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, on June 12, 
1890, George William Curtis said: 

"I challenge any lover of Massachusetts/ ' said a 
great patriot and scholar at the centenary of the battle 
of Concord and Lexington, "to read the fifty-ninth chap- 



248 AMERICANIZATION 

ter of Bancroft's History without tears of joy." It is 
the chapter which describes the beginning of the Revolu- 
tion. With something of the same feeling I may say 
that I challenge any lover of New York or of the Ameri- 
can character to read the first communication of Matthew 
Vassar to the trustees of this college without profound 
gratitude and admiration. In his simple words, uncon- 
sciously to himself, speaks the truest spirit of his time 
and country. "It occurred to me that woman, having 
received from her Creator the same intellectual constitu- 
tion as man, has the same right as man to intellectual 
culture and development." These words might well 
be carved in gold over the entrance of Vassar College. 
The fundamental truth which settles the controversy 
about the education of women was never more completely 
and exclusively expressed, and, like all fundamental 
truths when once adequately stated, it is simple and 
indisputable. Yet in that controversy, if he heeded it 
at all, Mr. Vassar had taken no part. The conflict with 
tradition and the logical consequences which his views 
involved, if they occurred to him, did not trouble him. 
"I consider," he said, "that the mothers of a country 
mould the character of its citizens, determine its insti- 
tutions, and shape its destiny." The duty and the 
necessity of the thorough training of all their faculties 
were, therefore, to his mind unquestionable. If anybody 
was anxious about the sphere of woman, Mr. Vassar was 
not. Reason and observation had revealed it. As there 
was no doubt that it was for the interest of society that 
men should be thoroughly trained morally, intellectually, 
and industrially, there could be no doubt that such train- 
ing was equally desirable for women, except upon the 
theory which advancing civilization had steadily abjured. 
There is no surer sign of a more liberal civilization 



ELIHU EOOT 249 

and a wiser world than the perception that the bounds of 
legitimate womanly interest and activity are not to be 
set by men, as heretofore, to mark their own convenience 
and pleasure. The tradition of the lovely incapacity 
of woman reflects either the sensitive apprehension or 
the ignoble abasement of man. The progressive amelio- 
ration of the laws that have always restricted her equality 
of right, the enlarging range of her industrial occupations, 
and the vanishing of prejudices and follies of opinion 
that once seemed insuperable, these are now the signs 
in the heavens. 

The old times indeed were good, but the new times 
are better. We have left woman as a slave with Homer 
and Pericles; we have left her as a foolish goddess with 
chivalry and Don Quixote; we have left her as a toy 
with Chesterfield and the club; and in the enlightened 
American daughter, wife, and mother, in the free 
American home, we find the fairest flower and the 
highest promise of American civilization. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Which one of Tennyson's longer narrative poems deals 
throughout with the higher education of women? 



A PAN-AMERICAN POLICY* 
Elihu Root 

No nation can live unto itself alone and continue to 
live. Each nation's growth is a part of the development 
of the race. There may be leaders and laggards, but no 
nation can continue long very far in advance of the 

*Extract from an address at the Pan-American Conference, held 
at Rio Janeiro, Brazil, 1906. 



250 AMEKICANIZATIOtf 

general progress of mankind, and no nation that is not 
doomed to extinction can remain very far behind. It is 
with nations as it is with individual men; intercourse, 
association, correction of egotism by the influence of 
others judgment, broadening of views by the experience 
and thought of equals, acceptance of the moral standards 
of a community, the desire of whose good opinion lends 
a sanction to the rules of right conduct — these are the 
conditions of growth in civilization. A people whose 
minds are not open to the lessons of the world's progress, 
whose spirits are not stirred by the aspirations and 
achievements of humanity struggling the world over for 
liberty and justice, must be left behind by civilization 
in its steady and beneficent advance. 

These beneficent results the government and the 
people of the United States of America greatly desire. 
We wish for no victories but those of peace; for no terri- 
tory except our own; for no sovereignty except the 
sovereignty over ourselves. We deem the independence 
and the equal rights of the smallest and weakest mem- 
ber of the family of nations entitled to as much respect 
as those of the greatest empire, and we deem the observ- 
ance of that respect the chief guaranty of the weak 
against the oppression of the strong. We neither claim 
or desire any rights, or privileges, or powers that we do 
not concede to every American republic. We wish to 
increase our prosperity, to expand our trade, to grow in 
wealth, in wisdom, and in spirit, but our conception of 
the true way to accomplish this is not to pull down others 
and profit by their ruin, but to help all friends to a com- 
mon prosperity and a common growth, that we may all 
become greater and stronger together. 

Let us help each other to show that all the races of 
men, the liberty for which we have fought and labored, 



JOSEPH C. LINCOLN 251 

is the twin sister of justice and peace. Let us unite in 
creating and maintaining and making effective an ail- 
American public opinion, whose power shall influence 
international conduct and prevent international wrong, 
narrow the causes of war, and forever preserve our free 
lands from the burden of such armaments as are massed 
behind the frontiers of Europe, and bring us ever nearer 
to the perfection of ordered liberty. So shall come 
security and prosperity, production and trade, wealth, 
learning, the arts, and happiness for us all. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What does Mr. Root mean by the term "Pan-American"? 
2. Why should our government be interested in a Pan-American 
policy? 

THE AMERICANIZATION OF THE CAPE 
COD FISHERMEN* 
Joseph C. Lincoln 

Almost any man can do a great deal, if he will, by- 
getting the utmost possible service out of the qualities 
that he actually possesses. 

There are two kinds of success. One is the very rare 
kind that comes to the man who has the power to do 
what no one else has the power to do. That is genius. 
I am not discussing what form that genius takes; whether 
it is the genius of a man who can write a poem that no one 
else can write, or of a man who can do one hundred yards 
in nine and three-fifth seconds. Such a man does what 
no one else can do. Only a very limited amount of the 
success, of life comes to persons possessing genius. The 

*Extract from an address before the Cambridge Union, May 26, 
1910. By permission of The Outlook. 



252 AMEEICANTZATION 

average man who is successful — the average statesman, 
the average public servant, the average soldier, who wins 
what we call great success — is not a genius. He is a 
man who has merely the ordinary qualities that he 
shares with his fellows, but who has developed those 
ordinary qualities to a more than ordinary degree. 

I have spoken of the great successes; but what I have 
said applies just as much to the success that is within 
the reach of almost every one of us. I think that any 
man who has had what is regarded in the world as a great 
success must realize that the element of chance has 
played a great part in it. Of course a man has to take 
advantage of his opportunities; but the opportunities 
have to come. If there is not the war, you don't get 
the great general; if there is not a great occasion, you 
don't get the great statesman; if Lincoln had lived in 
times of peace, no one would have tnown his name now. 
The great crisis must come, or no man has the chance to 
develop great qualities. 

There are exceptional cases, of course, where there is a 
man who can do just one thing, such as a man who can 
play a dozen games of chess or juggle with four rows of 
figures at once — and, as a rule, he can do nothing else. 
A man of this type can do nothing unless in the one crisis 
for which his powers fit him. But normally the man 
who makes the great success when the emergency arises 
is the man who would have made a fair success in any 
event. I believe that the man who is really happy in a 
great position — in what we call a career — is the man who 
would also be happy and regard his life as successful if 
he had never been thrown into that position. If a man 
lives a decent life and does his work fairly and squarely 
so that those dependent on him and attached to him 
are better for his having lived, then he is a success, and 



THEODOEE EOOSEVELT 253 

he deserves to feel that he has done his duty and he 
deserves to be treated by those who have had greater 
success, as nevertheless having shown the fundamental 
qualities that entitle him to respect. 

There is no man here to-day who has not the chance 
so to shape his life that he shall have the right to feel 
when his life ends that he has made a real success of it; 
and his making a real success of it does not in the least 
depend upon the prominence of the position he holds. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Why would Lincoln have been unknown had there been 
no war in 1861? 2. What is your idea of the most successful 
man? 



THE CONDITIONS OF A SUCCESSFUL LIFE* 
Theodore Roosevelt 

Every New Englander can have but the highest and 
most profound respect for that brave band of wayfarers 
who came to Plymouth in the old days. In the first 
place, everybody must respect them for believing in 
things. They believed in God, and they believed in the 
right, and they believed in honesty and they believed in 
freedom — and freedom did not in their case mean law- 
lessness or license. They believed, too, in work. That 
sounds unusual to-day, but they did. They believed 
not only in the honor of a day's work, and that an honest 
day's pay should go for a day's work, but they believed 
that an honest day's work should be delivered for a day's 
pay. 

*Adapted from a speech at the annual dinner of the New England 
Society of New York City, December 22, 1919. 



254 AMEKICANIZATION 

They did not talk largely of community rights, per- 
haps, but they certainly looked out for the rights of their 
community. Do you remember that first winter when 
all well enough to do it, from the highest to the lowest, 
went out and dug clams for the sustenance of the starv- 
ing? If that had happened to-day, the Amalgamated 
Order of Clam Diggers would have seized the oppor- 
tunity to strike. 

When I think of the Pilgrim fathers, naturally I think 
of the old sea captains of Cape Cod. Those men had 
many of the Pilgrim characteristics. They were honest, 
they were hard workers, they were fearless, and they were 
brave. 

Another thing for which they stood undeviatingly, was 
their love of this country, their patriotism. You see, in 
the old days, the days without cables, the days without 
wireless, when a ship put out from a port with an Ameri- 
can flag flying, that ship was a little section of the United 
States, and the men in charge of her assumed that 
responsibility; they felt they carried that little bit of the 
United States to the rest of the world. I do not mean 
they went about with a chip on their shoulders. I think 
they felt more like, to use a better expression, pitying 
anyone unfortunate enough not to be a citizen of the 
United States. I knew one captain who told me a story 
which illustrates this. He said that once his ship was 
at the entrance to the Suez Canal, and he decked the 
ship with flags, and the English Consul there came aboard 
and said, " Captain, why have you got your ship decor- 
ated?" And the captain replied, "This is the 17th of 
June." And the Consul said, "What does that mean?" 
The captain said to him, "That's the anniversary of the 
Battle of Bunker Hill." Then the Consul remarked, 
"The battle of Bunker Hill? I never knew why you 



THEODORE EOOSEVELT 255 

Americans should want to celebrate the anniversary of 
the battle of Bunker Hill. Why, we were on that hill 
when the battle was over." And the captain told me, 
"I leaned forward and tapped that fellow on the shoulder 
and I said, 'Son, who's on that hill now?' " 

You know, we have all a pet wish. I think my pet 
wish sometimes is just this: I wish I could set back the 
clock of time for a little and carry with it persons and 
events. I should like to set back the clock to some time 
in the fifties, and then I should like to take a dozen of 
our friends in the I. W. W. and the Soviet ranks, who 
care nothing for America, and I should like to add to 
them some of our back-parlor Trotskys — I should like 
to take that dozen selected and ship them aboard an old- 
time Cape Cod ship with a Cape Cod captain and Cape 
Cod mates, and send the outfit on a long voyage. 
Believe me, my friends, when the port was reached that 
crew would either be mighty good Americans or mighty 
feeble Bolshevists. 

So here's to those old ancestors of ours. They believed 
in and they were grateful to this land, the land that 
afforded them a refuge and freedom. It seems to me 
that upon us now rests the responsibilitity to carry on 
this democracy which they founded as they would have 
wished us to do, along the lines they laid down. Well, I 
have faith in America, and I believe America is going to 
do it. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Who is the author, and why does he "naturally" allude 
to the Cape Cod fishermen? 2. Compare this story with that 
of Philip Nolan, in Edward Everett Hale's "Man Without a 
Country." 3. What is meant by "our back-parlor Trotskys' ? 

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